LOVE EMBRACES AND RESISTS

The First Church Miami LGBTQIA+ Small Group got together on January 28th for an in person meeting. They discussed about love in all its forms and prayed together. 

They started the meeting by reflecting about good works and works of love. According to Marvel Souza, the good we do as christians can not be apart from the love we must have as children of God. He also said that good works gives us the servants of God identity but love gives us the children of God identity - 1Jonh 4: 7 (NVI) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

  

After that, Marvel proposed reading the following text: 1 Corinthians 13:4–8a (ESV) 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.

He asked the participants to try an exercise by reading the Bible text again and replacing the word love by their own names. According to him, if the name fits to the text it means that the person already has the true love. 

Discussion

Love is the common denominator in how we relate—to God, to others, to ourselves or to all creation. As followers of Jesus, love is our trademark.

The Bible shows us a deep and powerful love that transcends a feeling or emotion. This is what we see in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul tells us that love isn’t merely a feeling but a way of relating to others.

While most of us are fairly familiar with 1 Corinthians 13, slowing down to read it empowers us to enjoy subtle beauties we may otherwise miss. In this timeless passage on love, Paul uses poetic symmetry to deepen his point. He lists eight things love embraces and eight things love resists.

In these verses, Paul instructs us about what we need to hold close and what we need to let go. He empowers us with a framework to respond to any situation in love. Sometimes we will need to do things that are out of our comfort zone; sometimes we will need to not do things that feel natural to us. In both situations, love empowers us to respond beyond our feelings so we may impart life to others.

We can begin by putting these into practice with those closest to us, our family. Although as Christians, we don’t stop there. As outlined in 1 Corinthians, we’re called to love everyone God brings into our lives. 

A safe place for all

The First Miami LGBTQIA+ Small Group aims to build a love-based environment where everyone is accepted and celebrated being who they really are.

As they talk, read, sing and pray about love, they stand for all LGBTQIA rights and justice. 

To learn more about this LGBTQIA+ Small Group, contact us: +1(786)464 3398.