This summary provides the key points from the multi-part document in 3 sentences: The document shares a prayer of worship for God, passages from 1 Corinthians about the importance of love, and reflections on how 1 Corinthians describes the character of God as perfect love. It calls the church to reflect God's love in how they treat one another and expresses a desire for people to see God as love above all else when thinking of God's nature.

1. Prayer
Holy God, you gather the whole universe
into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds, make whole all
that is broken, speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory
and know your Christ.
Amen.

2. The Church Calendar
1.30.22

3. 1 Corinthians 13
THIS is THE way GOD is

4. When I gave up, you held up
When I ran out, you filled me up
When I kept runnin', you kept up
When I let you down, you lifted me up
This is the way love is
THIS IS
THE WAY
LOVE IS

5. When I couldn't find the words,
you understood
When I didn't find the time,
you were in no hurry
When I wouldn't make ends meet,
you tied them together
When I cheated you kept to the rules
Well, this is the way love is
This is the way love is
When it's a one-sided double-minded
mirror with no reflection
THIS IS
THE WAY
LOVE IS

6. When I was keepin' it in,
you were givin' out
When I was losin' out,
you'd let me come back
When I was holdin' back,
you were holdin' on
When I was losin' my cool
you were keepin' your love warm
THIS IS
THE WAY
LOVE IS

7. When I kept it all to myself
like a miser holds on to his last dime
When I closed up myself
like a desperate hand on a lifeline
Well I was bled, dried,
Wrapped up in my pride
This is the way it is
when you're on the wrong side
THIS IS
THE WAY
LOVE IS

8. Well, this is the way love is
This is the way love is
When it's a one-sided double-minded
mirror with no reflection THIS IS
THE WAY
LOVE IS

9. 1 Corinthians 13
THIS is THE way GOD is

10. Valentine’s Day romance or
early Christian marital advice
WHAT IT IS NOT ABOUT
1 COR 13

11. Valentine’s Day romance or
early Christian marital advice
WHAT IT IS NOT ABOUT
How the Corinthian Church
should interact with one another
in their pursuit of spiritual gifts;
also reveals heart/mind of God…
WHAT IT IS ABOUT 1 COR 13

12. If I speak in the tongues of mortals
and of angels, but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal. And if I have prophetic
powers,
and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains, but
do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions,
and if I hand over my body so that
I may boast, but do not have love,
1 COR
13:1-3

13. Love is patient; 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. But as for
prophecies, they will come to an end;
1 COR
13:4-8

14. For we know only in part, and we
prophesy only in part; but when
the complete comes, the partial will
come to an end. When I was a child,
I spoke like a child, I thought like a
child,
I reasoned like a child; when I became
an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then we will see face to face.
Now I know only in part; then I will
know fully, even as I have been fully
1 COR
13:9-12

15. And now faith, hope, and love abide,
these three; and the greatest of these
is love.
1 COR
13:13

16. 1 Corinthians 13
THIS is THE way GOD is

17. I am patient; I am kind; I am not
envious or boastful or arrogant
or rude. I don’t insist on my own way;
I am not irritable or resentful; I do not
rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoice
in the truth. I bears all things, believe
all things, hope all things, endure
all things. My love never ends.
1 COR
13:4-8a

18. I am patient; I am kind; I am not
envious or boastful or arrogant
or rude. I don’t insist on its own way;
I am not irritable or resentful; I do not
rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoice
in the truth. I bears all things, believe
all things, hope all things, endure
all things. My love never ends.
NOTE: This is great to aspire to,
but is neither accurate nor
possible for us at this point…
1 COR
13:4-8a

19. 1 Corinthians 13
THIS is THE way GOD is

20. …God
is love. 1 JOHN
4:8

21. The Father
and I are
one.
JOHN
10:30

22. He (Jesus) is the reflection
of God’s glory and the exact
imprint of God’s very being,
and he sustains all things
by his powerful word.
HEBREWS
1:3a

23. - God is love;
- Jesus is God;
- Jesus is love, seen most clearly in his
innocent death on the cross;
- What Paul says about love
can also be said about Jesus;
- If this can be said about Jesus,
it can be said about God, because
they are One;
- So, read 1 Cor 13:4-8a again…
MY
LOGIC…

24. God is patient; God is kind;
God is not envious or boastful
or arrogant or rude. God does not
insist on God’s own way; God is not
irritable or resentful; God does not
rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices
in the truth. God bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. God’s love
(and God’s Self) never ends.
1 COR
13:4-8a

25. Paul gives a call to action here,
inviting and challenging the
Church to live and reflect this
kind of love when pursuing spiritual
gifts, to the best of our ability,
but he ALSO offers a beautiful
description of the heart, mind,
and character of God that is
perfectly consistent with the
revelation of God in Christ Jesus
1 COR 13

26. My strongest desire – and, I believe,
my highest calling – as a pastor
is to do all I can so that when
you think of God you think of LOVE first
and foremost; a love that is consistent
with the other-oriented,
non-violent, self-giving love of Jesus
and is made present in, through, and
among us – and all of creation – by the
power/fruit of the Holy Spirit

28. Prayer
God of every land and nation,
you have created all people
and you dwell among us in Jesus Christ.
Listen to the cries of those who pray to you,
and grant that, as we proclaim the greatness
of your name, all people will know the
power of love at work in the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.