This devotional originally appeared the week of 9/11. I hope it still speaks to today’s conflicts.  The events of this week remind us of the radical impermanence of the world.   Who would have thought – on Tuesday, September 11, before 8:45 a.m. – that the day would end with the deaths of nearly 5,000 victims and the total destruction of the Twin Towers and the partial destruction of the Pentagon? Who would have thought that a peaceful nation would, within minutes, be transformed into a nation gearing up for war? Who would have thought that the terror visited upon other, … Continue reading The Love Chapter, Part 3 (1 Corinthians 13:8b-13)

The word “love” is one of the most indiscriminately used words in the English language. The statements “I love God,” “I love my children,” and “I love chalupas at Taco Bell” all use the same words to describe radically different emotional states. After all, if you love God and chalupas in the same way, then either God does not mean too much to you or chalupas mean far too much. Either way, your love is misplaced.  The Greeks have an advantage over us English-speaking folks, for they employed four words for love: storge, philia, eros, and agape. Storge is the … Continue reading The Love Chapter, Part 2 (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Sandwiched between two very practical chapters on the nature and use of spiritual gifts stands 1 Corinthians 13 – the “love chapter.” Too often, we divorce the “love chapter” from its literary context and read it at weddings. Of course, 1 Corinthians 13 applies to the relationship between a husband and a wife, but first and foremost, it applies to how members of a church should treat one another. The Corinthians, it turns out, did not know how to treat one another. Their common life was characterized by “jealousy and quarreling” (3:3). They ate food sacrificed to idols, indifferent to … Continue reading The Love Chapter, Part 1 (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

A few years ago, I attended a church with a young man named Michael. Michael’s body was (and is) wracked by cerebral palsy, an infirmity that binds him to a wheelchair and requires a caretaker to help him with his daily tasks. It might seem that Michael would be able to contribute little to the ministry of the church. That was my first impression, anyway. How wrong I was! Michael actually had two ministries in the church. First, he inspired love in other people. Often, we shrink away from people with physical disabilities, especially those with severe disabilities like Michael’s. … Continue reading The Church Is the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31)