...But Do Not Have Love...
I used to do daily Bible reading when I was in the COC, but after I had read the whole book cover-to-cover about a dozen times, I was more than a little burnt out. Now I pretty much limit my Bible reading to the lectionary readings each Sunday. So this year, instead of giving up something for Lent, I decided to add daily Bible reading to my routine for the 40 days leading up to Easter. I found an online lectionary and downloaded daily readings specifically for Lent, and I've really enjoyed it so far.
Yesterday's epistle reading included the first 3 verses of I Corinthians chapter 13:
"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
I had never really contemplated these 3 verses alone; usually, they're read as merely the prelude to the rest of the chapter, which is Paul's famous definition of love--the one they often read at weddings ("Love is patient, love is kind...."). As I read these verses yesterday, it dawned on me that Paul is describing the key problem with the church of Christ--they have no love. That's not to say that there aren't individuals in the church who are loving and kind, but as a group, the church is not founded on love, it is founded on anger, fear, and judgment. If you follow Paul's argument to its logical conclusion, then I think it's safe to say that, without love, the COC is a hollow shell, with the form but not the substance of Christianity, and everything it does is futile.
I remember when I was still involved with the COC that, whenever the topic of love came up in the adult Bible classes, people would get very uncomfortable and they rushed through it as quickly as possible. They much preferred to talk about Paul's "morality lists" in Galatians chapter 5. After all these years, I think I understand why--they're terrified of love because they can't quantify or control it. Love is a force beyond all reckoning, capable of tearing down all the barriers they build between themselves and each other and between the church and the rest of the world, and they need those barriers to prop up their fantasy of being the only true Christians.
Yesterday's epistle reading included the first 3 verses of I Corinthians chapter 13:
"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
I had never really contemplated these 3 verses alone; usually, they're read as merely the prelude to the rest of the chapter, which is Paul's famous definition of love--the one they often read at weddings ("Love is patient, love is kind...."). As I read these verses yesterday, it dawned on me that Paul is describing the key problem with the church of Christ--they have no love. That's not to say that there aren't individuals in the church who are loving and kind, but as a group, the church is not founded on love, it is founded on anger, fear, and judgment. If you follow Paul's argument to its logical conclusion, then I think it's safe to say that, without love, the COC is a hollow shell, with the form but not the substance of Christianity, and everything it does is futile.
I remember when I was still involved with the COC that, whenever the topic of love came up in the adult Bible classes, people would get very uncomfortable and they rushed through it as quickly as possible. They much preferred to talk about Paul's "morality lists" in Galatians chapter 5. After all these years, I think I understand why--they're terrified of love because they can't quantify or control it. Love is a force beyond all reckoning, capable of tearing down all the barriers they build between themselves and each other and between the church and the rest of the world, and they need those barriers to prop up their fantasy of being the only true Christians.
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