Message from the Chaplain

Love Is…???

What IS love? Over the years, there has been any number of attempts to define it.  Here are just a few suggestions, from persons both known and unknown:

“Love is friendship set on fire.”

“Love is like war: easy to begin, but hard to end.”

“Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” (writer Mark Twain)

“Love doesn’t make the world go round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile.” (poet Elizabeth Browning)

And I could go on….

Then there’s a definition of love that may be hundreds of years older than the ones above; but it’s still more famous (and certainly more often read, especially at weddings!) than all of them.  It runs like this:

“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.  Love never fails.”

You may recognise this description as coming from the Bible – it’s part of the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The list of qualities that are said to go with love is wonderful, but also aa bit intimidating! Whatever you think of the list, one thing that this description does show is that love is above all a verb, not merely a noun.  We can say we love someone till the cows come home; but there has to be action to back it up.  Active patience and kindness; active refusal to boast or be rude.  Active protection, trust, perseverance – and the rest.  For example, it could show itself in not just telling your mother once a year that you love her, on Mothers Day; but showing her that love, every day.  Of course, that doesn’t just apply to mothers, either…

In doing, not just saying, we’re simply following the example of our Creator. God doesn’t just tell us that He loves us, but actively shows that in probably the greatest act of love - by coming in the Person of Jesus Christ, and dying in our place, out of love for us.

Rev. Mark Rundle

Calrossy Chaplain