Love is love – except that it’s not. The Bible uses many words for love. Certainly, the most excellent of them is agape. It’s the word for God’s type of love. It’s more familiar and faithful than friendship. It’s more passionate that erotic love. It’s more tender and lasting than parental love. It’s more sacrificial and dedicated than love between a husband and wife. It is the love all the other forms of love would aspire to. This is the day that the Lord, in his love, has made. Let us find ways to rejoice in it. I invite you to get a Bible – in print or electronic – and start working through the prayers, scripture reading, questions, and devotional reading below. May the Lord bless you as you do so. And may the Spirit of God work in each of us to shape us to be a little more like Jesus, today.

— Praise God with Me: (1)
Almighty God, your love for us and for all people is powerful beyond measure.
Your love is so vast that nothing will prevail against it.
We know this love is trustworthy because of Jesus Christ:
his life of compassion, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead.
In life and death we belong to you,
holy triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

— Let us read and reflect on Scripture:
A little background: Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians is one of the most widely read portions of scripture. The Greek word for love here is agape – God’s love. It comes in the middle of a section of the letter in which Paul is giving instructions about worship. They were excited about the powerful, showy gifts of God. But he tells them the gift they should want the most, the one available to everyone, is God’s love. He presents it, as if to say, if you get this part right, the rest will fall into place. It’s a good passage to read aloud wherever you are. Then, in humility, answer the questions.

Come Holy Spirit, help us to remember who we are and who you are!
I Corinthians 13:1-13 Faith, hope and love, these three abide, but the greatest of these is love.

— Answer these four questions:
What does this passage say about God?
What does this passage say about people?
As a result of this reading, what is one step God is inviting you to take?
Who is one person you will tell about that step today?

— With a Heart of Prayer, Let us Respond: (2)
God, through these words you invite us to see everything differently. That’s daunting. By the grace and power of your Spirit, pour out your love on us and let our lives reflect your love to the world. In the name of Jesus who modeled this for us, Amen.

— Let’s Gather Wisdom from One Who Walked with Christ before us: (3)
If I, deeply in love with another, begin describing with passionate appreciation what has been unnoticed or ignored by everyone else for years, some people around me are sure to dismiss me, “Love is blind.” They mean that love diminishes my capacity to see what is actually there so that fantasy, tailor-made to fit my desires, can be projected on another and thus make him or her acceptable as a lover.
But the popular saying, as popular sayings so often are, is wrong. It is hate that is blind. It is habit, condescension, cynicism that are blind. Love opens eyes. Love enables the eyes to see what has been there all along but was overlooked in haste or indifference. Love corrects astigmatism so that what was distorted in selfishness is now perceived accurately and appreciatively. Love cures short sightedness so that the blur of the distant other is now in wondrous focus. Love cures farsightedness so that opportunities for intimacy are no longer blurred threats but blessed invitations. Love looks on one who had no ”form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” and sees there the fairest of the sons of men…anointed with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”
If we could see the other as he is, as she is, there is no one we would not see as “fairest… all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.” Love penetrates the defenses that have been built up to protect against rejection and scorn and belittlement, and it sees life created by God for love.

— Let this glorify God today: (4)
May God, the Holy Trinity, make you strong in faith and love, defend you on every side,
and guide you in truth and peace; and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.—

Sources:
(1) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources, edited.
(2) From The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources, edited.
(3) From Earth and Alter, Where Your Treasure Is, 1993, Eugene Peterson
(4) From 1 Timothy 1:17, NIV as found in The Worship Sourcebook, 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.