St Mary's

Today Talk from Julie

23rd August 2026

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a & Matthew 28:18-20

Last weekend my husband and I celebrated our ruby wedding anniversary.  40 years – that’s a long time!  I know it’s a long time because my husband said that you can get less for murder.  He has a gift for finding the right comment for every occasion.  Not long ago I had a  busy day full of irritating little jobs that I couldn’t get done because every time I started something the phone or the doorbell rang.  I got totally exasperated and said to my husband “I need a wife.”  His response?  “I’ve got one of those.  They’re not worth the expense.”  I do not know how we have stayed married for 40 years.

My husband hasn’t got a romantic bone in his body. Never has.  What he does have, as you might have guessed, is a wonderful, dry sense of humour. My sense of humour is very similar – which is just as well – and is one of the reasons we have stayed together I think. Romance is all very well and should be part of every marriage but that is not what makes a marriage last.  It’s not romance that keeps a marriage alive  it’s love.  Not romantic, hearts and flowers love, but nitty gritty, daily life, good times and bad times love.  The sort of love that puts up with “I’ve got one of those, they’re not worth the expense” comments.  The sort of love that puts up with the beard trimmings in the sink, the insisting on playing Pink Floyd albums, of giving a scientific explanation for absolutely everything – which takes the romance out of absolutely everything!

It’s the same in any relationship. Make your own list.  Loving someone is hard work whether it’s a spouse, a child, parents, siblings, friends and you have to work at it.  Everything isn’t always sunshine and roses, sometimes its thunderstorms and thorns.

Having a child is no different.  They can be cute and adorable and easy to love, and they can be little monsters.  They can be the reason you get out of bed in the morning with a smile and the reason you go to bed at night exhausted.  They make you proud, they make you cross.  They are tremendous fun and incredible hard work.  But you wouldn’t be without them, because you love them.

We all know love when we experience it and there are a lot of ways to define love. 

Chrissy (6) says “Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”

Lauren aged 4 knows she is loved.  "I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."

Sam (5) says love is "Showing respect to people and being nice to people, and when your mom tells you to do something, do it!" 

Children are very good at getting to the heart of things.

Terri (4)  says that "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Bobby (7) says "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

I don’t know how old Paul was when he defined love in his letter to the Corinthians but it’s one of the best definitions of love that you will hear, it gets to the heart of things too.

Paul says love is kind.

Elaine (5) explains "Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Paul says love keeps no record of wrongs. Mary Ann (4) explains  "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Paul says love perseveres.  Rebecca (8) explains "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too.” 

Paul  sums up love like this:  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonour others, 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.”

Jack (4) sums up love like this: “Love is being nice even when you don't feel like it. " 

Tommy (6) sums up it like this: "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

All of these definitions are wonderful and they really describe the kind of love we need to show to others.  But all of these definitions are hard to live up to.  Especially Paul’s.  I mean, are you always patient?  Kind?  Do you never envy, or boast?  Are you never proud?  Or rude? Or self-seeking?  Do you never get angry?  Do you never keep a list of the things someone has done wrong?  Are you always truthful?  Do you always protect?  Trust?  Hope? Persevere? 

It’s not easy to love like that.  Sometimes we manage most of it, sometimes we manage bits of it but we never achieve all of it all the time, no matter how hard we try.  No matter how much we love someone.  We want to love in the way Paul describes it but we don’t.

It’s not surprising that we don’t love like that because Paul is describing the ideal form of love, the one that we want to live up to but can’t.  Paul is actually describing the love of God.  God’s love is a perfect love and the amazing thing is that he loves us with that perfect love.  God’s love for us is always kind, his love is patient.  God’s love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  God’s love does not dishonour us, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.  God’s love keeps no record of the wrong things that we do.  God’s love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  God’s love always protects us, always trusts us, always hopes for us, always perseveres with us.  God loves us like that all the time.

God loves us so much that he came, in the form of Jesus, to show us how to love.  Jesus lived a life of love, showing us how to love others in the way he lived and interacted with people.  He showed us what love looked like; to the point of dying for us on the cross so that we could receive the love of God fully and completely.  So that each one of us can have a personal, one to one relationship with God himself. Forever. 

Jesus said: “Come, follow me.” The best way to learn that sort of love is to follow Jesus and the best way to follow Jesus is to become a member of the church.  Chelsey and Connor have shown their love for Cody by bringing him here today to be baptised and become part of this church.

The Church is not a building, it’s a group of people. People who have answered Jesus’ call to follow him.  People who are not perfect, who do not get everything right but who are doing their best to learn how to follow Jesus and how to love each other like God loves us.  Church is the family of God and we have been privileged to welcome Cody into our family today and we will do our best to love him, and his parents, and his family and friends as best we can.  And we will do our best to show him and teach him about following Jesus and the love of God as we walk together answering Jesus’ call to follow him.

Amen