1 Corinthians 13.1-13 Let me put a Christmas spin on 1 Corinthians 13. I may sing Christmas carols at the top of my voice till I get hoarse but if I do not sing with love, I sound like a tinny Christmas song or an out of tune choir. I may send lots and lots of cards (and still forget somebody), but without love my greetings are hollow. I may spend all my money and run into debt to give bigger and better presents but if there is no love in the giving, I just get tired and fed up. Love never fails but where there are decorations, they will crumple; where there are lights, their bulbs will go, Where there are trees, their needles will shed. Love is the true meaning of Christmas The love that came down at Christmas is God so loving the world, desiring to save it, not destroy it, that he sent his beloved son to share our life to show us that we are loved, to show us how to live in love. Love is sorting out that family row that could ruin Christmas, Not stirring it, nor letting it simmer, nor bottling it up for next year. Love is sincere good wishes to your neighbour on February 23rd as well as on December 25th. Love is giving yourself along with your gift. Love is treating those we don’t like in exactly the same way as those we are fond of. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: (1 Cor. 13.4-7) 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. Will this Christmas be like that for us? Don’t we have high expectations of Christmas and particularly in the area of love. We hope our relationships will be affirmed. So families want to get together, children come home, you try to visit an old aunt or at least you send a card. You say hello to the neighbours, you leave something for the postman. People often get engaged at Christmas, because it’s a time for love. And yet as I read just now, Christmas glitter tarnishes: the rows, the weariness the stress make us wonder where is love and what is it. Solicitors say that January is a peak time for people coming to look for a divorce. Could it be that Christmas brings out the worst in relationships rather than the best? How can we love in the 1 Corinthians 13 way in a way which will make this Christmas different, special? One way to look at this is to replace the word ‘love’ with the name ‘Jesus’ Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind. Jesus does not envy, Jesus does not boast, is not proud. Jesus is not rude, Jesus is not self-seeking, Jesus is not easily angered, Jesus keeps no record of wrongs. Jesus does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Jesus always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Isn’t that true about Jesus, a human being who loved perfectly? Someone who gave himself sacrificially to do the best for others. That’s what love is: it goes beyond romance, beyond lovey dovey feelings. Love is so much more than just buying a Big Issues or a flag on flag day; So much morethan having good feelings or even being sexually attracted nor is it about indulging people, giving them a nice time, what they want it’s about giving them what they need. Love, God's love and the love he wants us to show others is a committed sacrificial relationship which will give others what is best for them (which is of course not always what they want or cry out for). How then can you and I get to the place where we could put our name in 1 Corinthians 13.4-7? so that I could say John Faris is patient, John Faris is kind, John Faris does not envy … Only in so far as I identify myself with Jesus, place trust in him. Then there is a power in me, that is changing me to bring me where I couldn’t be by myself. It’s just like someone wanting to fly to London. There is no point in going to the airport, standing on the runway, stretching out our arms and trying to run as fast we can. That gets us nowhere. But if you go to the airport and commit yourself to a plane believing that the plane will fly, then you can get to all sorts of places When you and I commit to Jesus Christ then what is true of Jesus begins to become true of us. The challenge of Christmas is: to put our name with that of Jesus Christ so that we may truly say ‘I … in Christ am patient , I am kind I do not envy.’ The promise of Christmas is: we may love like that because we are loved like that. The true meaning of Christmas: true love came in Jesus Christ who shows us what love is. And here is one last thought about Christmas, Christian love, Christlike love: Quality matters, not quantity, the how more than the what. It’s not what you give or do but how you give and how you do what you do. Paul says I will show you a more excellent ‘way’ In chapter 16.14 of he same letter as he is signing off he says ‘Let all that you do be done in love.’ Let your inner motive be love In the situation at Corinth the Christians were getting at each other Boasting and fighting about who was the most spiritual, who was the most gifted. Paul asks them to look at their motives in what they do and say. Is it in love? Is it to build up the church and to glorify Jesus or to puff themselves up and knock others down. This Christmas let’s look at our motives for what we do. Putting up decorations? Writing cards? Thinking what to get someone? You can do those things because you have to and you make it a burden; because you fear you won’t get any cards if you don’t send any cards because you want your decorations to be as good as the ones next door … But when your Christmas is done in love then you’re just glad to give pleasure to someone with a simple gift you want to welcome the stranger and greet someone lonely and it’s not the end of the world if you forget someone or if they forget you It’s not the end of the world because you know there is forgiveness in love. The whole thing is so well expressed in RL Stevenson’s prayer Loving Father, help us to remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the song of angels, the gladness of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men. Close the door to hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be your children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiven and forgiving, for Jesus’ sake. AMEN Let all that you do be done in love God of love, we know that you are love because you sent your son among us as one of us and this began at the first Christmas. May our celebration this Christmas be empowered by the spirit of Jesus that everything e do shall be done in love. So we pray that people from other countries in Cork this Christmas shall be welcomed, that no-one shall be alone on Christmas Day. We pray for homes where love is in doubt because of strain between parents or because of any of the unhappy things which hurt families We pray for ourselves if there is someone to whom we need to say Happy Christmas and maybe we need to add a note of apology on our card or we need to show that we have forgiven them May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.