with Robert Smyth
Calvary Lutheran Church Glasshouse Mountains
NOW that is a leading question.
Recently one of the readings in our morning service was from 1Corinthians, Chapter 13.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy , it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Certainly, but what is love????
This reading was one of the readings at our wedding on 9th May, 1964. We have been married now for nearly 61 years!! I love my wife and she loves me! Would you call that “true love”???
The Greeks had 4 words to define love.
- Storge, which means affection, especially among families.
- Philia, which is friendship, especially between close friends.
- Eros, which is romantic love, ie physical and/or sensual desire.
- Agape, which is unconditional selfless love.
So, how would you define “love”? If I think of food I would say I love broad beans, cooked or raw. I love cooked mushrooms on toast! What do you love??
Dorothea Mackellar wrote in her famous poem, “I love a Sunburnt Country”.
How could you love a dry barren landscape devoid of green grass???
Oliver, in the musical, changes it by singing ‘Where is love?’
Over our 60 years together, we have had three dogs, all living for about 16 years.
Yes, we loved our dogs, but what sort of love is that???
We love our small retirement home here in the Glasshouse Mountains Country.
What sort of love is that??
We have two daughters and three sons, 10 grandaughters and 5 grandsons.
We love them all and our family get together ‘s are incredible.
In our everyday discussions, we all use the word ‘love’. We see it in our newspapers, we hear it on our TV’s.
However there is one ‘love’ that transcends all the others. That is the UNCONDITIONAL Love of God,
John 3: 16, says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
NOW, THAT IS LOVE!.
