1Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)
“And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
Devotion
Love is…
Oft times when we try to describe something or explain what something is, we start by saying what it isn’t. What is blue? Well, it’s certainly not red. If someone asks, “Is it warm outside?” you might say, “It’s not cold, that’s for sure.” Or: “How do you feel today?” “Not bad; not great, but definitely not bad.” But once we move from describing what something isn’t to what it is, complications can arise; simple things, it turns out, are not so simple.
Take blue, for example. If you press the Google button on your computer and ask about how many shades of blue there are, here’s what you get: One site says there are 24 shades of blue, another one 76, and another 265. There is a Dodger blue, a Westinghouse blue, Air Force and Navy blues. The academy apparently feels very strongly about the color blue. There is a Yale blue, a Brandeis and Columbia blue, a Carolina blue and a Duke blue. But as far as I can tell, there is not a Princeton blue. But there could be. In fact, scientists estimate that the number of possible shades of blue is about 5.6 million. So, blue is simply not blue.
The Apostle Paul begins the 13th Chapter of his first Corinthians epistle by telling us that love is kind and patient. He then immediately goes on to say what love is not. Love is not envious or arrogant, rude, or resentful. Simple enough. Yet, the scriptures teach us that love comes in many, many shades: as a lamb and a lion; in storm and calm; in triumph and in tragedy; in things that simply are not love but indeed are the most profound loves of all. Love wields the sword in Gethsemane and heals the soldier. Love descends like a dove and love hangs on a cross. Love is as simple and as hard as that.
“Love,” Emily Dickinson tells us, “is like Life – merely longer; Love is like Death, during the Grave; Love is the Fellow of the Resurrection Scooping up the Dust and chanting ‘Live’!”
Oh yes, love is good and love is warm. And love is… blue. So too, love is red. Lavender and rose, bluebonnet and burgundy, cyan and scarlet. The landscape of a life in service is waiting to be filled. The palette sits in your hearts and minds where impressions become reality in word and deed. Brush and blade, tint and texture are among family and friends. Vision and imagination lit by God’s creation, by this Book, in this Church, on this Cross. Fill it with love. Amen.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we are grateful for this day and your presence in it. Enlighten our vision and imagination so that we may serve you and others faithfully, ardently, creatively to bring peace to this world. And fill our hearts with love, so that we may love well in return. Amen.
David Morrison