Greetings Cascade Family & Friends,
The events of this week - the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, the evil tweets, Presidential Inauguration, and especially Cascade's Commitment Sunday - have caused me to ask myself, "How's MY Love life?" The emotional highs and lows are real for all of us. If left unattended, they can cause discomfort, pain and grief. So, I went to scriptures for a self-check, renewal, and strength for the journey. Instead of a dictionary definition, Paul gives a thorough description of what real love looks like and emphasizes behaviors that are inappropriate to followers of Christ.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV).
Let us pray for God's help to become more loving, because without love, nothing else counts. Ultimately, we need to put our "childhood ways" behind us and always exhibit God's love for us and our love for GOD. In his book, Coming Home - An Invitation to Prayer, Richard J. Foster reminds us,
"Today the heart of God is an open wound of love...He grieves that we have forgotten Him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness. He longs for our presence...And He is inviting you, and me, to come home, to come home to where we belong...And He welcomes us home...."
Cascade Family, will you commit to:
- Giving over getting?
- Commitment over feelings?
- The long haul over the short term?
You can see the love of God displayed in patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness, integrity, and perseverance. This Complete Love survives and stands the tests of time and tribulations. It never ends!
How is YOUR Love life?
Blessings,
Rev. Joyce E. Banks Gross
Senior Associate Pastor
