"The Mission"

I Corinthians 13:1-13 (New Revised Standard Version)

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 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. 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. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

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This past week I attended a SNEPJC training that was given by a RE from GA who works with the GAPJC. We talked about IC’s, AI’s, RE’s, TE’s, AFR’s, the PMA, the OGA, and the PC(USA)... I’m afraid that I’m not speaking in the tongues of angels but instead speaking in the tongues of mortals, contrary to what I would like to think. Whether we know it or not we often talk using “insider” language, terms or phrases that may be familiar to us, but inadvertently excludes those who are aren’t in the know… And I mention all of this because it’s a segway into our theme this morning, which is that our words and actions lack love if they originate from a place of self-centeredness.

Another example of this comes from one of my favorite movies. If you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it, but as I thought about the sermon for this morning, I couldn’t help but think about the movie “The Mission” released in 1986 starring Jeremy Iron and Robert De Niro. Without getting too much into the nitty-gritty and giving away the whole film, there is one scene I want to highlight for you. Robert De Niro’s character, a reformed slave trader, decides to change the direction of his life and attempts to join the priesthood in South America. Throughout his journey of discovery, he is given a Bible by one of the priests and reflects on the reading from I Corinthians 13.  

I recommend you watch “The Mission,” because it was powerful scene to watch De Niro’s character, an initially rough and tough slave trader, read the words that we read this morning, “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. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.” It’s a journey of selfless love, love that does not ask for anything in return, love that does not do things for the sake of recognition but to answer the call to love without restrictions or expect anything in return.

When was the last time you sat down with Scripture and reflected on a passage such as the one from I Corinthians? When was the last time you let a Bible passage sit with you for some time as a meditation or prayer? As I mentioned, in the beginning, this section of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians challenges us to think about what is at the core of our being. Is it faith? Is it hope?  Is it love? But since we know that love is at the heart of all of these things, perhaps the questions is, “What kind of love is guiding our life?” Because if it is love that is self-serving or for vanity’s sake, then we might have to go on a journey of rediscovery and self-discernment.

We have a tendency to exalt ourselves, a tendency to pad our own egos and self-image, and the love that God has instilled in us ends up needing a little tuning every now and then. We might find that we need to reconnect with the things that are supposed to nurture both our bodies and our souls. When we go on a journey of rediscovery, when we pursue the mission that Christ has given to us, we will hopefully end up in a place where our love has grown up. It may be that you are looking through a mirror dimly or that you understand the world as a child, but at some point, something needs to change… The idea that we are static or immoveable does not lend itself to the type of challenging faith that we are called to participate in.

Last week also took a look at Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. And in the section, we looked at last week Paul was seeking to correct to the church in Corinth. As we looked at how all of our spiritual gifts come from God, we remember this week that if those gifts are not used properly, they may end up being as useful as a “loud gong” or “clanging cymbal.” Love is edifying, love is what builds up and not tears down, as Paul puts it, “love never ends.”

Lonni Collins Pratt is the co-authors of a book that some of you might have read or heard of called “Radical Hospital.” In the book, she talks about a time where she and her husband lived across from a small cabin, which was empty at the time. Soon after their arrival, they had a neighbor move into the little cabin, an older gentleman who was described as looking like Willie Nelson. Pratt’s husband went to introduce himself, but being more reserved Pratt didn’t go with her husband. It soon became apparent that their neighbor had a mission, which was to renovate and fix the cabin, which had fallen into disrepair.

All was well until one night she heard a loud scream coming from the cabin. A few weeks went by, and Pratt finally went over and introduced herself to their neighbor and brought over some food. As they swapped stories, the man said he liked to go around and fix up houses so that younger families could move in… Being a Vietnam vet, he found it therapeutic but still felt like he was living there. Pratt writes that as she listened, she heard things that her neighbor never said… As she listened with intent, she listened to the underlying message of concern and pain, “Don’t worry I won’t be here very long, and I hope that you can tolerate me and soon you’ll have the neighbor that you had hoped for.”

And that is part of the mission… Can we listen to that deeply to the story of those around us? Can we listen with such deep love as to hear the words of others that are not spoken? Can we act then in love once we look out of a place of our own vulnerability and care? Because that kind of listening and action is what Paul is talking about this morning… It is that kind of listening and engagement that comes from a place of selfless love that leads to the understanding of true love that is described by Paul in the passage for today…

Once again I would encourage you to see the movie “The Mission,” because the evolution of Robert De Niro’s character is an excellent portrayal of what Paul is calling for in today’s Scripture reading. Because we all have a mission that has been given to us by Christ, a task that will ask us to change what is at the very core of our being. It is a mission that is filled with joy, a mission that is filled with sorrow, and a purpose that is grounded on the truth that the love of God will carry us onward to wherever it is we will end up… It is a mission that will hopefully lead us to a place where we will have learned to love in the same manner that Christ loves us.

As we move ahead in this congregation in this time of shaping and reshaping and focusing and honing our attention on who we are, perhaps we can take up the mission of love that is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Maybe when we form small groups to vision a future for our church, we will take up the task of listening with intent love. Perhaps when we are beginning to use our hands and feet, we will feel more connected with the world that God has called us to be stewards of and build relationships with those whom Christ has called us to care for.

I know that today is the Super Bowl, but maybe you’d be willing to take some time this afternoon, or perhaps time this week, to just stop for a moment and recall a time where you have felt the kind of love that Paul wrote about in the letter we read from this morning. Maybe it was someone who practiced the kind of radical hospitality that Pratt wrote about in her book… Perhaps it was a time where you stopped to listen to the underlying words that someone was saying or maybe it was a time where your words influenced your actions.

The mission that is set before us runs opposite to what is at the core of our culture today. It asks that we about consider the words we use and take ownership of our actions. It asks that we abandon the mentality of scarcity and live into a life of abundant love. For we do now see in a mirror, dimly, but when we live a life that is filled with the light of God that darkened mirror breaks into shattered shards… We need to be bold, we need not be afraid, because God is there with us as we grow and as we live into who we were created to be.

Maybe our mission will take us to our co-workers who are uncertain about their future or a classmate if you’re in school who feels like no one understands them. Maybe it’s that person who has been a thorn in your side, but they look like they require help. Perhaps it’s that person you’ve been meaning to visit but just haven’t had the time. It may even be a complete stranger who you encounter this week which you might have otherwise just walked by and ignored. So how will you live out the mission of your heart this week? Take time to listen, take time to act, take time just to stop and take in the world around you… For we all have hope, we all have faith, and above it is love that guides and holds these things together. Amen.