but the greatest of these...

Today's reading from the One Year Bible comes from 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13. And if I didn't know better, I would think that this chapter was written by St John. It's about love, for one thing, which John writes about throughout his gospel and all through his epistles. And it's also rather poetic, which we don't see alot of in Paul's letters, but find often in John. Maybe he was inspired by John for this chapter.

In any case, he tells us something very important, and something we need to heed today in the midst of all of our crises. Yes, there are lots of things to alarm us in the world around us. Sex abuse scandals in Hollywood, the Catholic church, and pretty much everywhere else you look. They recently discovered a compound in New Mexico where ISIS was teaching children how to do mass shootings. (Crazy that that didn't make the news.) And yes, there should be moral outrage about these things, no doubt.

But we also have to remember the number one commandment. We have to remember what Paul tells us in tonight's readings. No matter how outraged we might become, if we don't exhibit love, we become nothing. No matter how horrible some action is that some person in authority has committed, we have to remember love. Does love mean letting them off the hook? Giving them a get out of jail free card? No, of course not. Sometimes love means locking them away for life, to keep them from hurting other people and from destroying themselves. But let's not give in to the desire to cry out for their blood. To want them to be tortured and killed. Let's pray for their souls, and hope and pray that they find God and turn from their lives of foolishness and pain.

That's what love demands. And John DOES tell us that God is love. God demands that we love our enemies, pray for them, and care for them. It's not easy, when you think of the horrible things they've done.

It gets a little easier, though, when we think of the horrible things WE'VE done.

God, please fill us so full of Yourself that when we face the evil of this world, we can overcome it with love.