Sermon from February 18, 2007
"All she/he ever wanted was to be loved."
That line is the stuff of songs, movies, books, poetry – even fairy tales; but it also reveals the very core of who we are.

We can be good and nice people; but we can also go through life without opening ourselves to receiving love or giving love. "To be loved" is what we all want more than anything else.

From youth to old age we long for people to be close enough that they might know us and us them. We want a church where we don't have to hide who we really are.

USA Today printed an article last year: "25% of Americans have no one to confide in." This is truth about many of us here today – we do not have anyone to confide in or turn to.

We are surrounded by people. We are bombarded by messages and calls. We go, go, go to events and meetings. We have constant contact but few connections, plenty of communication but little communion with other people. We are friendly but friendless; involved but isolated.

And our deepest and simplest need remains. We need love. But finding love is not typically easy and it is frequently difficult.

The Apostle Paul's words about love in 1 Cor. 13 are very familiar to most of us. These words were addressed to a church – a real church made up of real people. This church was a very gifted and energetic church but it was also a very troubled church. It was missing the one, key ingredient of a church. It lacked love.

This church was not inspired by Jesus' love nor were they moved by the necessity of sharing that love with a needy world. They were impressed by spectacular gifts and they wanted to be seen as important and powerful.

Paul said that even the most spectacular gifts and amazing self-sacrifice are empty and meaningless if they are not motivated by and practiced with love.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Our vision at BVBC is "to be followers of Jesus Christ, known by our love, engaging God in heartfelt worship." But Paul tells us that worship can be just noise if it is not done in love and make us more loving.

The second part of our vision is "to be followers of Jesus Christ, known by our love, engaging our culture with gracious discernment." Preaching and communicating is useless chatter if it does not direct us to live lives of greater love.

The third part of our vision is "to be followers of Jesus Christ, known by our love, engaging our community with compassionate deeds." But this passage tells us that even giving to meet the needs of those around us is a futile gesture unless it comes from love.

Paul describes what love is like:
Love is patient. It is willing to take the time and effort needed to understand and to work for good.
Love is kind. It is tender, gentle, respectful and courteous. It is not irritable, envious, resentful or rude.
Love is not boastful. It does not embarrass others. It practices downward motbility. It seeks to serve.
Love does not insist upon its own way. It knows that life is about more than "what is fair."
Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It does not seek to make a show of another person's sins. Love shields those who fall from humiliation.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It perseveres, trusts in God's power and the possibility that people can change. It forgives, not seven times, but seventy times seven.

Paul is spinning out the dream of God for his church. This kind of love is at the heart of a real church, because it is the love of Christ. But we can only love in this way if we let ourselves be loved by God. When we allow God's love for us to cast out our fears and heal our wounds, it gives us the power to trust.

What gave Jesus the positive security that he possessed was God's great love for him. Jesus was able to live powerfully because he was fully secure in the love of the Father. Jesus said to his friends on the night before his death: As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. (John 19:9)

The good news you need to hear is that God loves you now, unconditionally, completely and gladly. And God has been and is trying to persuade you to trust his love.

The feeling you have that there is something more to life and to the world, has been placed in you by God. The longing you feel, making you yearn and search, until you find God and his goodness is God working in you. The ache you feel in the presence of beauty, the thrill you feel when you discover truth, and the joy you feel when confronted with goodness, are whispers of God's presence and his care for you. Sometimes a passage from a book or a scene in a movie or a lyric from a song reminds us of the truth or hope or beauty or goodness that we had known and yearned for all along.

There are moments in life, often simple moments like when you look up at the stars on a crisp, dark night; or you hold a small child; or take a bite of your favorite delicious fruit; or you laugh so hard your stomach hurts and your eyes water; and it gives you a nudge to let you know, at least for a moment, that life is good and behind that goodness is a God who loves and cares for you.

Or, when life gives you times of heartache or pain; and someone opens his or her arms and wraps them around you and takes in some of your pain; and they give you some of their strength; and you know once again that you are not alone.

I believe those ordinary arms are God's arms; because in the heart of God, and in the plan of God, and in the dream of God, we are the presence and love of Jesus for each other and the world.

"All we ever wanted ... was to be loved."

And Jesus reminds us, As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.