Mount Zion Ryan

Doubtful. It’s been ages since I posted. But something (vanity perhaps) has got me thinking about blogging again. So here it goes.

I recently posted this to the OXWOMS yahoo group. OXWOMS is an acronym for “Orthodox Without My Spouse” and I know I’ve mentioned it herein before.

Fr Stephen (appearantly of Blog fame of late) gave a sermon once
wherein he compared the Beatitudes with Paul’s description of love in
1 Cor. 13. Part of his point was that if “God is Love” (1 John 4:16)
then the description of love in 1 Cor. tells us how God is.
Furthermore, these are illuminated by the Beatitudes, becasue God is
Blessed. I don’t intend to repeat it here, but someday I hope to
transcribe it. It is the best single sermon I’ve ever heard.

For our purposes the relevant part come from 1 Cor. 13:
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not
parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not
seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in
iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never fails.

Obviously we love our spouses, else we wouldn’t agonize over
converting without them. Think for a moment about the above passage
in term of your spouse and your desire for them to become Orthodox.
My favorite part is “Love believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. Love never fails.” God will never give up
believing, hoping and enduring–awaiting the day when your beloved
chooses the fullness of the Orthodox Faith. Neither should you. We
are called to “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke
6:36). God’s mercy is his love, in loving others we should strive to
the description Paul has given us.

I take great strength and comfort from Paul’s definition of love. I
hope you can too.

Just reading that passage nearly brought tears to my eyes.

Hopefully more to follow.

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