I Corinthians 13:4-8,13

Introduction to the Scripture:

The apostle Paul's Corinthian correspondence urges the fledgling congregation to learn to get along with each other. Chapter 12's imaginative writing pictures the church as a body in which all the parts are not the same but all the parts are needed in their uniqueness for the full functioning of the whole. Spiritual gifts are celebrated and seen as a wonderful thing, but Paul ends that section saying, "And I will show you a far better way." And he fairly bursts forth in poetic writing, soaring phrases and beautiful thoughts about the transcendent superiority of love.

Along with the 23^rd Psalm, I Corinthians 13 - the "love chapter" - is a beloved scripture. Many of you will almost be able to recite it with Deb and Dwight. It shows up in weddings and even at funerals, it's on Christian greeting cards and artistic calligraphy of these words graces posters and framed art work.

Ah, we are in love with love! But even as I stand here with each couple and read these words with them lost in the romance and wonder of young love, I know, you know, that hard work and rough times are ahead. These lofty phrases and lovely ideas are challenging to live out in committed relationships of romantic love, and in all our loving.

"We live in a culture that can't get enough of romantic love, and in a culture that is scared of loving too." [The Rev. Nancy Rockwell] Remember that old song, "Love, (love) is Strange?" Mickey and Sylvia recorded it in 1957, but it has continued to weave it's way into movies (Picture Patrick Swazye and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing) and has been sung by such diverse performers as Kenny Rogers, Buddy Holly, Paul McCartney, U2 and Peaches and Herb, and. The idea must ring true deep within us . . . yes, love is strange. (If you remember that tune it will now be stuck in your head the rest of the day! Sorry!)

Love is the subject of innumerable songs, piles of books, mountains of movies, libraries of plays, poems, and stories, museums bulging with paintings and more jokes about husbands and wives than anyone could possibly remember. We fall in love, out of love, lose love, find love, want love, fear love, give love, take love, celebrate love, degrade love, sentimentalize love, reject love, believe in love, pray for love. We say we love children, partners, spouses, parents, pizza, new shoes, TV shows, clothing and our soul mates.

Our congregation is full of variations of the theme of love when it comes to our partner or spouse love connections. Some of us are happily in love and some of us sat in the office of a divorce lawyer this week. Some of us are not in a partnership right now and others have been together for more than 60 years. Some of us are divorced, some more than once, some of us are remarried, some never married. Some of us are widows and widowers, some of us are simply in a dead marriage. Some of us are deeply in love, but cultural judgements may force us to hide our love and unjust laws prevent us from legal recognition of that love. Some of us struggle in our relationships, some of us have found that the love is gone, some of us dream about the relationship we wish we had, some live in a nightmare of a relationship now.

Love is not just strange, it is powerful, overwhelming, confusing, attractive, painful, wonderful, fulfilling, curious, deep, erratic, unpredictable, mysterious and amazing.

And in the midst of the variety of situations and experiences of our loves we hear the words of our scripture. Love is patient - and we think, "have you met my husband!? My wife!? My lover!? My boyfriend!? My girlfriend?! And we go on to read this impossible-to-live-up-to-list: 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.

Can anyone live up to this description? No human I know. It's a list of ideals, it's a register of goals, it's an data base for trying, it's an unattainable but always hoped for agenda for caring. It's really a description of divine love, of the kind of love with which the Source of All Love loves. It's God's love. God loves you, God loves me, this way. No matter who we are. No matter what we do. No matter what we believe. This is how God loves us. God's love for you is patient. God's love for you is kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. God does not insist on God's own way, God not irritable or resentful toward you. God's love for you does not rejoice in wrong but rejoices in truth. In your life, God's love bears all things - for you - believes all things - for you - hopes all things - for you - endures all things - for you. God's love for you, never ends.

It is overwhelming this love God has for us. And it is remarkable that God then entrusts us - no empowers us - with this very same love to share with each other. Especially to share with a life partner. And I find that heady and wonderful and exciting, as long as the ones I share that love with are a bit of a distance from me. Isn't it ironic that it seems that loving with this kind of love is most difficult in the relationships in our lives that are most intense and the people who are closest to us?

Oh, sure, I can love the people of another nation, but ask me about love when Ralph and I are lost . . . in a foreign city . . . in a rental car . . . and it's getting dark! Certainly, I can love those living in poverty in Oshkosh, but ask me about love when Ralph I are in the middle of hanging wallpaper in the bathroom! I can even muster a kind of love for our global enemies, but ask me about love when I start talking theology with some of my in-laws!

Love is strange . . . and difficult and splendid. Here's what Fredrick Buechner has to say about love:

When the thrill of young love is gone, when the routine and pressures of daily life have ground the shine off the diamond of romance, when broken dreams or broken promises or broken bank accounts threaten to tear a relationship apart, cozy emotional feelings will not be strong enough to withstand the storms of real living. Love then becomes hard work, an act of the will, a choice that we make in the face of challenge. A choice we make through the power of the God of love through the strength of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes, if we're lucky enough, it works out. Not always. Sometimes the best intentions we have simply are not enough for a relationship to survive. But when it does, it's a precious thing.

It's a big subject, love in long-term committed relationships. I think you'll be hearing a few more sermons about it in the coming months! Surely in one of them we'll explore the idea of marriage - what does the Bible have to say about it and what is it's history and how might that impact how you vote about the marriage amendment in November. For now, I just want to urge you to learn all you can about this constitutional amendment. Get all the facts. Understand how it will affect children, people in abusive relationships, and both heterosexual and homosexual partnerships. It's not really a referendum on gays and lesbians, it's really about civil rights, denying and limiting civil rights.

I want to hold up and celebrate love, wherever it is found. On this anniversary weekend of the invasion of Iraq, God knows our world could use as much love as we can find, as much love that connects to any and as many of the verses today as possible. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

A best selling book, turned into a popular movie, The Notebook is a story of committed, enduring love. Noah and Allie are young lovers who are driven apart by class distinctions and circumstances. In their twilight years, Allie suffers from dementia, and Noah, by reading her the story of their lives together, helps her to remember.

In one scene of the movie, Noah has been reading to his wife, Allie in the nursing home. The Alzheimer's has advanced and does not recognize him. A nurse arrives to say he has visitors -- his children.

All of the children and grandchildren arrive and gather around. Allie greets them all and asks their names. The children are clearly a little saddened that their mother does not remember them, but they cheerfully introduce themselves and their own children. Suddenly the atmosphere gets a little awkward, so Allie excuses herself to take a nap, and Noah promises to continue reading to her later.

Once she is gone, one of his daughter remarks that, "She seems good today."

Noah says, "She is good." He says that today may be "a day for a miracle."

His other daughter, not sharing Noah's hopefulness, says, "Daddy, come home. Mamma doesn't know us. She doesn't recognize you. She'll never understand."

His other daughter implores him, "We need you. This is crazy, you living here."

His son says that they will all help with their mother, that they will take shifts visiting her."

Noah turns to his family and says, "Look, guys, that's my sweetheart in there. I'm not leaving her. This is my home now -- your mother is my home."

And so, in the end, no matter whether thinking about the love in our long-term committed relationships or love in our extended family or in our circle of friends, we all long for fidelity. We long for enduring love, we long for loyal friends and lovers. We revel in the unconditional love from our dogs, we keep hoping that our treasured relationships with humans will last.

Love songs outnumber all others. Lost love, old love, new love, unfaithful love, unrequited love, fulfilling love, enduring love. We are gifted here at FCC to have in our midst a talented songwriter and singer in Steve Hazell. I've asked him to conclude my sermon today with a love song he wrote called Tom and Rose. So whether it's a partner, a spouse, a friend, a child, a parent, a grandparent you love, may the words and music of this song deepen your desire to love with an enduring love. And perhaps in the expression of the kind of love Tom has for Rose, you will hear echoes of the enduring love God has for you, a love that never ends, ever, no matter what. Never.

(Steve sings)

 Tom met Rose on a Saturday night
The band was playing and the stars were bright
They walked along by the fields of rye
They walked together through the summertime
Till autumn winds gave Tom the strength
To say what he had to say

Tom asked Rose to be his bride and share the seasons side by side
She said "We'll need a house," he said "I'll build a house."
She said "You'll need a job," he said "I'll get a job."
She said "I'd like to have kids," he said "Let me think...
Well, I guess that would be all right, 'cause...."

Some dreams come and fade away and some grow stronger day by day
Tom and Rose by the fireside with their hair a snowy white
I said I loved you long ago, and the passing years have shown it so
When we're too old to walk, we'll sit and talk
When we're too old to talk, I'll hold your hand
And when I'm too old to hold your hand....
I'll gaze into your eyes and smile
'Cause......

Chorus