Did St. Paul Ever Meet A Socialist?

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)

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, I gain nothing.

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; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 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 known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

It would be difficult for anyone to say so much in 276 words, but St. Paul does quite a job when writing to the folks in Corinth. When I find that my frustration with socialists and liberals reaches migraine proportions, I have to try and remember to read these words.

Just look at the first paragraph. When I listen to those whose separation fixation leads them to ban the Ten Commandments from a courthouse lobby, or anyone from the ACLU on any topic, I have to try and remember that without love, even if I believe I am right, then how can I be anything other than a "noisy gong". So that means for the sake of my eternal soul, I have to love the whack-jobs in the freakin' ACLU!

This being a Christian stuff just keeps getting harder.

As long as I keep love in my heart, I can even stomach the French. I've decided to capitalize the "F" again since Sarkozy was elected. Conservative leaders now in Canada, Australia, Germany, France - soon in Britain after my Uncle Tony steps down ... damn that George Bush for setting such a poor example and making our allies hate us. I wonder who it was that Mr. Heinz-Kerry was speaking to about how they didn't want George elected? Probably good old Jack Sherack, the back-stabbin', no good, ... I'm sorry Jacques, I forgive you. Why, in a purely Christian sense, I love you old bean.

Now the second paragraph, I'm having a real difficult time seeing Al Franken in their anywhere, or Bill Mahr. They would not aspire to this concept because to them, religion is the "opiate of the masses". So now I have to be patient, kind, never boastful, arrogant or rude.




You can stop laughing now.

Let's just get to paragraph three. "Love never ends." I'm certainly okay with that one. With those that you truly love: mother, father, husband, wife, child, sibling, the love can be tested, even broken, but it never ends.

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.

I'm sorry, some things are just too easy and too obvious, so I'll let that one pass without further comment.

"And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."

I have faith that the American people will make the right choices when presented with the truth; I have hope that we can find a way to work more closely together towards common goals, and I love this country and what it stands for.

Those sentiments are, of course, secondary to God and Family.