Do you... I do. 1 Corinthians 13.

When was the last time you heard someone read from this chapter of Corinthians? "Love is patient, it is not envious." I'm going to guess that most people would say in answer to that question, "at a wedding." It certainly makes sense to quote these exquisite, godly thoughts on love during a wedding ceremony, but Paul wrote these words to be read in the Corinthian church. The same church that was divided, tolerant of deliberate sinners, suing one another, and unclear on fundamental issues such as eating meat sacrificed to idols and the proper preparation for celebrating the Lord's supper.

Love is over all. We can't hear that enough. Grace and mercy are rooted in love. God's love for His creation manifested itself in the call of Abraham out of Ur and a voluntary binding in a covenant relationship, with Noah, Abraham, Israel, Joshua, David, Ezra, and finally with all of us. All of the law is summed up in love -- for God and for one another. Faith and hope over any gifting, but love supreme over all.

One of the metaphors for the church is the bride of Christ. Bride, not wife. So maybe we always hear 1 Corinthians 13 at a figurative wedding. Before repeating your vows once again to Jesus our Lord, listen to what Paul wrote about love, as translated by Andy Gaus.

   If I speak the tongues of mortals and angels, but have no love, that makes me a trumpet-blast or a cymbal-crash. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and possess all knowledge and have faith enough to move mountains, but have no love, I'm nothing. And if I turn all my possessions into bread for the poor and deliver up my body for my greater glory hereafter, but have no love, it does me no good.
   Love can wait; love has a heart. Love doesn't begrudge, doesn't brag, isn't inflated, doesn't act crude, doesn't take advantage, doesn't pick fights, doesn't plot evil, and takes no delight in doing harm, but delights together in the truth. It is always accepting, always believing, always hoping, always enduring. Love never fails.