Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
February 14th marks the world day of love in the Christian world. It is also extremely secularized and monetized to convince people to spend money to show our loved ones just how much we care. Men, show you love your partner with diamonds, chocolates, teddy bears, and flowers. Women, show your love by getting him a nice pair of socks or testosterone supplements! (I will admit I am not sure what is commonly advertised for women to get men. I will say that I like flowers, too! My apologies for the heteronormative examples. These are just the ones I see in advertisements.) I remember bringing a fun size Valentine’s Day candy for all my homeroom classmates every year in elementary school. Even as a child we are instructed that showing love is done through giving things. Is this really what love is all about? So many businesses try to teach about what love is and so many authors try to unravel its secrets. This leads to the question many preachers sermonize about at weddings and philosophers, poets, and musicians try to describe in their work. It’s the question the title of this rambling calls back to: Haddaway’s, “What is Love”? St. Paul writes very clearly about what love is: Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. -1 Corinthians 13:4-8a The question then becomes how this love plays out in your own life. What does this love look like in the real world rather than just in a letter? It certainly seems more than just giving things to others. For those fortunate to have someone you love, which moments in your relationship were highlighted by some of these characteristics? Do you remember the things or the moments themselves? Love is not about the giving of things. It is the giving of one’s own self to another. When St. Paul writes of love he understands there is only one person who fully embodied this love, the incarnate Son of God, Jesus. Jesus agrees about what the noblest form of love actually is: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. -John 15:13 Human relationships have highs and lows, but Jesus’ love for the world was a constant to the cross and grave and is still a constant in our lives today. Whether you have a special sweetie to enjoy Valentine’s Day with, just the memory of a deceased loved one, or no one at all, please know that Jesus celebrates this Valentine’s Day with you as he does every day. He laid down his live for you. He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things for you. The love of Jesus endures forever. Feel free to answer any of the questions posed in the comment section!
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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