"The Power of Love"

In March, Austin Perine, 4 years old, was watching a television show on pandas with his dad and teenage brother.  The mother panda left the cub and it was mentioned that the cub would be homeless.  When asked what homeless meant, Austin’s dad replied, “It’s somebody who doesn’t have a mom and dad around.”  To show his son the meaning of homelessness, he took Austin to see the men and women outside the city shelter in Birmingham.  Touched by the experience, Austin asked if he could use his allowance and birthday money to feed the hungry people.  Although he wasn’t expecting to feed the homeless, his father took him to Burger King to buy chicken sandwiches and drinks to give to the people outside the Firehouse Ministries Shelter.

Austin has taken his mission to heart.  He forgoes new toys in order to buy food and drinks to feed the homeless.  Once a week, his dad, TJ Perine, takes Austin to the shelter to give away “food and smiles.”  Austin wears a bright red satin cape and a shirt with “#ShowLove” across the front of it.  When he arrives each week, Austin is met with high fives and pats on the shoulder.  After giving the people their sandwich, drink, and hug, he reminds the recipients, “Don’t forget to show love.”  Moved by Austin’s heart and generosity, Burger King is giving Austin $1,000 a month for a year to help him feed the homeless.

What a delight and privilege to hear Bishop Michael Curry, the current presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, speak of “The Power of Love” at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding.  The soon to be Duke and Duchess of Sussex chose the scripture text from Song of Solomon for him to use in their wedding ceremony.

Excerpts from Bishop Curry’s message:

From the Song of Solomon 8:6 in the Bible: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.

Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world, for love is the only way."

There is something right about it [love]. And there's a reason for it. The reason has to do with the source. We were made by a power of love, and our lives were meant - and are meant - to be lived in that love. That's why we are here.

Ultimately, the source of love is God himself: the source of all of our lives.

The New Testament says it this way: "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and those who love are born of God and know God. Those who do not love do not know God. Why? For God is love." 1 John 4:7-8

There’s power in love.  There’s power in love to help and heal when nothing else can.

Jesus said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."

And then in Matthew's version, he added, he said: "On these two, love of God and love of neighbor, hang all the law, all the prophets, everything that Moses wrote, everything in the holy prophets, everything in the scriptures, everything that God has been trying to tell the world ... love God, love your neighbors, and while you're at it, love yourself."

Someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in human history.  A movement grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world - and a movement mandating people to live that love, and in so doing to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself.  I'm talking about power. Real power. Power to change the world.

He died to save us all.  He didn't die for anything he could get out of it. Jesus did not get an honorary doctorate for dying. He wasn't getting anything out of it. He gave up his life, he sacrificed his life, for the good of others, for the good of the other, for the wellbeing of the world... for us.

That's what love is. Love is not selfish and self-centered. Love can be sacrificial, and in so doing, becomes redemptive. And that way of unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive love changes lives, and it can change this world.

Think and imagine a world where love is the way.

Imagine our homes and families where love is the way. 
Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way.

Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. 
Imagine business and commerce where this love is the way

Imagine this tired old world where love is the way. 
When love is the way - unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive.

When love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again.

When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.

When love is the way, poverty will become history. 
When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.

When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields, down by the riverside, to study war no more.

When love is the way, there's plenty good room - plenty good room - for all of God's children.

Because when love is the way, we actually treat each other, well... like we are actually family.

When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all, and we are brothers and sisters, children of God.

My brothers and sisters, that's a new heaven, a new earth, a new world, a new human family.

Dr. King was right:  “We must discover love - the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world, a new world.”

In these coming days, may we, too, take every opportunity to share, live, experience, and show the power of God’s love.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:35

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:10