Call to Worship:  
God is love,
And his word is his valentine.
As Jesus delivers his Word to his people,
May we deliver his love to others.

Unison Prayer:  
In a world full of sorrow,
Let us form a community of joy.
In a world full of hatred,
Let us form a community of love.
In a world full of rivalry,
Let us form a community of peace.

Words of Assurance: 1 John 4:19, Good News Bible
We love because God first loved us.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen.

Opening Song: Cory Asbury, “Your Love Is Strong”

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-7, Good News Bible

I may be able to speak the languages of human beings and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell.  I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains—but if I have no love, I am nothing.  I may give away everything I have, and even give up my body to be burned—but if I have no love, this does me no good.

Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud;  love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs;  love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth.  Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.

Sunday Sermon

We’ve heard this Scripture our whole lives, in church, at weddings and in conversation. We’ve heard it so often that many people can recite it without thinking. It’s a beautiful passage, but so familiar that its power has been blunted. Today I want to look at the passage in a new way, and hopefully restore some of its impact.

The first thing to point out is that Paul isn’t writing about romantic love. The passage can be applied to romantic love, but Paul is writing about Christian love. And the first component is patience.

Love is patient with other people. Love is patient when it is standing on a supermarket line and the person in front of us is buying a lot of stuff and doesn’t have bags and can’t find their wallet and when they do, they don’t have enough money. Love is patient when it is stuck in traffic and the person in front of us keeps braking for no reason and the person in back of us is too close to our bumper and the person next to us wants to get in front of us for no apparent reason because it’s clear none of us is going anywhere anytime soon. Love is patient when a spouse just doesn’t get it and the reason they don’t get it is because they weren’t listening, and if you’ve told them once, you’ve told them a hundred times, to which they respond, “sorry, what was that?” Love is patient when a child isn’t picking up their stuff as fast as we’d like or is taking too long in the bathroom or forgot their homework again or just told you at 8 p.m. that they need something for school tomorrow.

Love is patient and if this doesn’t describe you, that’s fine, but Paul is saying, then it’s not love.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus asks, “Why should you get any credit if you only love people who love you, or say hi to people who say hi to you? Everybody does that!” It’s a fair question. If we choose to love some people and not others, love becomes easy. But love is not easy.

Love is kind to all people. Love, for no other reason than it’s love, holds the doors for others, makes polite conversation, looks for the best in everyone, compliments them, does unexpected favors. Love says yes when it can. Love drops off the food, collects the clothes, stops by the hospital, starts the GoFundMe page, offers a ride. Love is gentle even when it disagrees with an opinion. Love tries to understand that everyone has bad days and that many people have bad lives. Love shows mercy. Love says, “There but for the grace of God go I.” And love has a soft spot for those to whom others have not been kind. Love is especially kind to those who have been hurt or abused, those who have lost their jobs, those who are battling addiction, those who are on the streets. Love goes out of its way to be kind to victims of hate: immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQI+ community.

And if this doesn’t sound like you, Paul is saying, I guess that’s to be expected, but it’s not love.

Love sees that other people are happier, or that their love lives are better, or that they have more money, or that their children are better behaved, or that they get to go on more vacations, or that they are better looking or younger or healthier. And love somehow finds a way to be happy for them, because love is not jealous or bitter or envious. Love applies its energy to itself, to having a healthy attitude and a sense of perspective, because there will always be someone richer, someone younger and someone better looking, and so what?

But on the flip side, love doesn’t lord it over other people. Love doesn’t say, “I’m a good person” or “I’m a good Christian,” because the implication is that someone else isn’t. Love wonders if it is good, because love is aware of its own faults, its own failures, its own sins, but love always tries to be good, always tries to do the right thing, and when it isn’t sure what the right thing is, love looks for help. Sometimes, despite its best intentions, love ends up doing the wrong thing, or making things worse, which is why love keeps returning to God and to other people and saying, “I’ll take responsibility. I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again.” Love knows that it doesn’t know everything, so love is always seeking, always learning, always growing.

Love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable, even when love has gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, hasn’t had its coffee, is late for work, is feeling under the weather, is overwhelmed by life, can’t remember its password, gets charged for something it didn’t buy, receives the wrong order, hasn’t heard back from someone, has just seen something on the news, and can’t find its cellphone, glasses or keys. These things happen to everyone. They are unavoidable, and maybe our moods are too. But when these things get to us, and we’re short with other people, or snap at them, or say something sarcastic, or start having negative thoughts such as “I hate people” or “Why do I even try”, or wondering if maybe it’s time for God to end the world, we have to realize that we’re not thinking in love, and when we’re not thinking in love, we’re not likely to act in love.

And most of us – and I hate to admit it, because it includes me – do keep a record of wrongs, but it’s not love. We remember everyone who has even hurt us. But what we do with this is crucial. We can dwell on it and replay it over and over in our minds and think about elaborate revenge schemes and look people up on the internet to see if they’re dead yet, but this is definitely not love. We can let hate and hurt rule our lives, and be resentful, and say we don’t deserve to be treated this way, and we can blame evil spouses and mean bosses and bad doctors, and even blame God, and define our lives by how unfair our circumstances have been, and travel further and further from love, so far that we may fail to recognize it when it is right in front of our faces.

Or – OR ~ we can try our best to forgive and move on. And maybe the other person isn’t sorry, or still thinks they’re right, or didn’t think they did anything wrong, or didn’t care, but it doesn’t matter. Instead of keeping a record of wrongs, we might start keeping a record of rights. What blessings have brought us this far, and what blessings do we have today? What beauty still remains in the world? What did Jesus see when he looked down from the cross at those who had put him there and prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?” And if we’re still keeping a record of wrongs, we might ask ourselves, “Am I in someone else’s book, and do I deserve it, and if so, what would I do to be forgiven, and how would I feel if they forgave me?”

Here’s where it gets tricky. Love is not happy with a lie, but love is happy with the truth, which means love sometimes has to confront evil. We live in an age that some call “post-truth,” presented with “alternative facts,” but this doesn’t mean that all truth is relative. When we’re told that climate change isn’t real, even though 97% of scientists say it is, we should ask, “Who benefits from this statement?” When we’re told that vaccines are bad, and then kids start dying of measles, we need to see the hard science, not the conjecture. And here’s one conservatives should like: when an official implies that carrying a gun makes a person a domestic terrorist, we should ask, “does this mean that 40% of Americans are terrorists?” Because this can’t be true. The hardest part is to speak truth in love ~ to confront evil while keeping a handle on our emotions.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies and even to pray for them, and models this behavior himself. Paul tells the Romans, “Do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good.” And to the Galatians he writes, “if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way. And keep an eye on yourselves, so that you will not be tempted, too.” In other words, we cannot become what we hate. We cannot let our anger lead us into sin, because then love goes out the door.

Love is hard work. Fortunately, there is reassurance: “Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and patience never fail.” We cannot conquer hate with more hate. Love is always the right choice. In the end, love will redeem the entire world. Jesus says that the greatest love is to give one’s life for someone else. When we choose love, we come a little closer to seeing through Jesus’ eyes, and to understanding the reason for the cross. Amen.

Closing Song: Bethel Music, “Stand In Your Love”

Benediction
Know that God’s love is eternal.
Go forth to love and be loved in return. Amen.

Come out this Sunday at 10 a.m. for our special Valentine’s Day-themed service! We’ll be talking about love, of course! God loves us more than we can imagine. May we feel this love every day, and share it with others, making every day feel like Valentine’s Day!

Be sure to stay after worship as we put our love in action, preparing packages of rice and beans for hungry people in our own community.

Call to Worship:  
To all who fight the good fight,
Who struggle against forces seen and unseen:
Fight with all your might, and hold on to the end,
For Christ has won the battle.

Unison Prayer: 
Mighty God,
you fortify us with your strength.  
You are our shield and our fortress.  
Lend us your power and your grace,
that we might stand our ground.  
Prepare us to join as one
in your victory song.  
Amen.

Words of Assurance:  1 Corinthians 9:25, Good News Bible
Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen.

Opening Song: Michael W. Smith, “Surrounded (Fight My Battles)”

Scripture Reading:  2 Corinthians 6:4-10, NIV
As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Sunday Sermon: “The Other 31”

The New York Giants are not playing today because their best players got injured. The New York Jets are not playing today because they traded away their best quarterbacks, two of which made the playoffs and one of which is playing today. The Baltimore Ravens are not playing today because they missed a field goal. The Rams failed to convert on a first and goal. The Bills fumbled their chances away. The Eagles argued with each other. The Colts lost their starting quarterback. The Chiefs have multiple excuses, and the Lions and 49ers had multiple injuries. The Falcons, Saints and Bengals got good too late. The quarterbacks for the Chargers and Texans had injured hands, and the Broncos quarterback fractured his Achilles. The Commanders had the NFL’s worst defense. The Jaguars couldn’t get their run game going. The Bears gave up a late-game play. The Packers never got into a rhythm.

After their seasons ended, nine teams fired their coaches and all of them pointed fingers. After today, someone will blame someone or something: a player, a coach, a ref – because by midnight tonight there will be 31 losers, representing 1643 players who didn’t win the Super Bowl this year.

But let’s look at this another way. The minimum salary in the NFL this year was $840,000. The highest-paid player is Dak Prescott, who was paid $60 million and whose team didn’t even make the playoffs. In case you’re curious, that’s $164,383/day or $6849/hour, which is slightly more than minimum wage, or $280/minute, which seems more reasonable, or $5/second. Let’s throw in another fun fact: the average price for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial this year is $8 million, which means even Dak Prescott could only buy 7 of them. And the lowest priced Super Bowl tickets this year are $4000, which doesn’t include the cheap thousand-dollar tickets that were distributed directly to the teams.

I guess what I’m saying is, don’t feel too bad for the losers. But the Super Bowl gives us the chance to talk about winning and losing in general and how it is perceived, and what it might look like through God’s eyes.

My favorite NFL story of the year is about a quarterback who didn’t win a single game. Philip Rivers had retired from football and was coaching his son’s high school football team. He’s 44 years old, has 10 children and recently became a grandfather. He is so dedicated to his family that when his old team moved from San Diego to LA, he made the round trip every day so he could spend nights at home. He agreed to come out of retirement to play a few games for a team whose quarterback, former Giants QB Daniel Jones, was out for the season. He hadn’t played in years and most people thought it was a bad idea that would turn out to be a total disaster. But he played well in all three games. His team lost the first one by a last-second field goal and the last one by a last-minute touchdown, and lost the middle one – which was actually his best of the three – because the defense gave up 48 points. Technically, Philip is a loser – but not to me, or to his family, or to either of his teams, or to the fans.

My second-favorite NFL story – even though I’m a New England Patriots fan – is Sam Darnold. Sam played for the Jets, who traded him to the Panthers, who traded him to the 49ers, who traded him to the Vikings, where he went 14-3, which was apparently not good enough because they traded him to the Seahawks, where he went 14-3 again and is now in the Super Bowl. He is an example of incredible perseverance and resilience, and the effect that a good coach and a good team can have on a player.

So I’ve just mentioned the league’s biggest loser – zero wins – and one of the league’s biggest winners – 16 wins, counting the playoffs – and if you agree that these are both inspirational stories, then we’ve already leaned something about winning and losing. In short, there are different ways to win.

Paul writes that there are many runners who compete to win a single prize that will fade, but that we run to win one of many equal prizes that will last forever: a victory crown, a laurel, the call to the life above. There are no pedestals in heaven; there’s not a single trophy. But that’s okay, because we don’t get one just for participating; we have to try with all our might, and endure, and persevere, like the Christians before us who have already won the prize and are now a crowd of witnesses, cheering us on.

God is the head coach, I’m an assistant head coach along with the other pastors, everyone with a church position is on the coaching staff, each church is a team, and we’re competing both as individuals and as teams; but we’re not competing against each other. We’re competing against temptation, against sin, against apathy, against lethargy. We’re fighting poverty and disease and prejudice and despair and the corrupting forces of the world. Every day is a battle, and many days we’re going to lose, but some days we’re going to win, and we’re going to be judged by the way we respond to each.

I think of my friends down south who just lost their father, their husband, their son, and have chosen to go on with faith, not demanding answers, but trusting in a God they don’t fully understand. I think of three of my friends who have all gone into rehab in the last year, choosing not to drink again. I think of Merry, who every day is trying to help people on the streets, simply so they don’t die, knowing that she can’t save everybody. I think of Karim, who through nine months of illegal imprisonment still somehow kept his faith – like Paul, or Gandhi, or Mandela, or King. These are people who have lost in clearly identifable ways, but who are winning on the score board of Christ.

That same Paul writes, “we are genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” In other words, it doesn’t matter what other people say about us or believe about us; it only matters what God says. Hillsong Worship sings, “I am chosen, not forsaken; I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me; I am who you say I am. Who the Son sets free, oh is free indeed; I’m a child of God, yes I am. In my Father’s house there’s a place for me; I’m a child of God, yes I am.”

We are all losers, because we have lost many things for Christ. But we are all winners if we continue to align ourselves with Christ. Through Christ, sometimes when we lose, we still when; and even when we fail spectacularly, like King David or Simon Peter, we have a way back to God’s grace, because our head coach believes in us. He knows what we are capable of. He gives everything he has to keep the path of victory open. After a loss, we are not traded or fired; we are encouraged and loved.

While we watch the game today, let’s look for the stories behind the stories, the game within the game: the players who have overcome great odds to be there, the players who play in honor of loved ones, those who play for a cause, those who use their wealth to support charities, those who visit hospitals or mentor children. Look for the players who extend a hand to opposing players, who clap them on the back, who hug them after the game. Look for the people from each team who join together in prayer. Listen after the game to the speeches thanking God, thanking mentors, complimenting the other team and their coaches. There are many ways to win, and many will be on display tonight. Red Sanders famously said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” But to God, it is how you play the game. Amen.

Closing Song: Hillsong Worship, “Who You Say I Am”

Benediction
No matter what battles you are facing, remember the words of the Lord:
“I will fight for you; you need only be still.” Amen.