Love Endures All Things! - Father Dave's Blog

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Hi Fighter,

I’m not sure if you’re a fan of musicals. As a rule, I am not, as I find it hard to take seriously the way the cast can be locked in serious discussion and then suddenly break into song. This chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth though reads like a musical. There’s the Apostle, having a serious discussion about spiritual gifts, and then he suddenly breaks into song about the wondrous nature of love!

Bible students are always quick to point out that this love poem is still a part of Paul’s discussion on spiritual gifts, and yet it’s more than that too. Indeed, I think this passage gives us a glimpse of the workings of the early church as they tried to hammer out the meaning of love as they saw it in and through Jesus.

Keep in mind that writing letters in the first century was a communal exercise. Saint Paul would be dictating his letter to his amanuensis who would be scratching things down on a parchment or tablet as quickly as he could. Even so, he wasn’t going at sixty words-per-minute, and there was plenty of time for others who were in the room (and even the scribe himself) to chip in and suggest edits as they wrote.

Saint Paul would say loudly, “love is patient and kind”, and then he’d pause to allow the scribe to do his work, at which point Barnabus would add “and it’s not jealous or boastful or rude!” Paul would say, “Yes, add all of that. Love isn’t jealous or boastful or rude”. “Or arrogant”, cries another voice … and so the letter takes shape.

If you’ve read C.S. Lewis’ book, “The Four Loves”, you’ll understand that these people genuinely believed they were working with a new concept. There were three common Greek words used for ‘love’ in the first century, yet the early church opted for none of them, and instead chose a less common fourth word, as what they were talking about seemed to them to be a new concept.

For those who haven’t read Lewis, the three common words for love were:

Eros, meaning natural attraction
Philia, meaning friendship, and
Storge, which was love between family members

The Apostles started their thinking about love with none of these relationships, but with Christ’s act of self-sacrifice on the cross. “This is how we know what love is”, says the Apostle, John, “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16).

None of the normal words for love seemed adequate to capture this, so the Apostles used the word ‘agape’, which was a relatively colourless and unpopular word at the time, and invested it with new meaning.

Read through the whole thirteenth chapter of this first letter to the church at Corinth and see if you can’t hear Paul and his team exploring the different dimensions of love together. It’s as if they were contemplating a multi-faceted diamond.

Love is indeed a wondrous thing, and an enduring thing, and as I fly back from Iran, contemplating all the amazing things I’ve seen and people I’ve met, I know full well that it is the love I received that will stay with me.

“And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated a unique Eucharist last weekend. It was our first non-Anglican one!

I wasn’t’ there (despite rumours to the contrary). I was in Iran, and sound asleep. Major kudos to Rob Gilland and Andrew Logan who put together a great broadcast.

Unfortunately, having been in Iran all week means I haven’t been able to post my usual collection of video shorts. YouTube is banned in Iran (as are Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other sites), Hence, I’ve had a relatively subdued social media presence over the last seven days. Even so, I’ve uploaded one video short below, where Rob and Andrew discuss the joy of doing church online.

Enjoy the short, and if you’re hungry for more, check out the full collection on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page or visit our video archive on my YouTube channel.

This Sunday I’m back, and I’ll hopefully manage to overcome the jet-lag and stay awake for the broadcast.

We normally have David Baldwin and Tom Toby with us on the first Sunday of the month, but David is going to be busy seeing off his dear daughter at the airport. Rev. John Jegasothy has offered to take David’s place, and I am very grateful.

Tune in at midday on Sunday via TheSundayEucharist.com or Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard. I do look forward to being back and sharing this Eucharist with you. 😊

Let me work your corner

If you’d like to see my work continue, please click here to make a one-off donation. If you can afford a monthly contribution, sign up at Patreon.com and choose either:

Middleweight – $10/month (community mentoring)

Enrol in the Fighting Fit training program
Access member-only training videos
Engage in the members-only forum

Super-Middleweight $50/month (remote mentoring)

All of the above +
One-on-one mentoring via email, phone, or Skype

Heavyweight – $100/month (in-person mentoring)

All of the above +
Training with Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy

Superheavyweight – $200/month (intensive in-person mentoring)

All of the above +
One weekend per month at Binacrombi Bush Camp.

Every dollar helps keep the wheels turning – the websites, the newsletters, the broadcasts, the boxing club and the bush camp. Sign up at Patreon.com.

What’s On?

Sunday, February 2 – Our Eucharist from noon via thesundayeucharist.com (or Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard).
Tuesday, February 4^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm.
Thursday, February 6^th – Boxing at The Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Friday to Sunday, February 7 to 9 – @Binacrombi. Please join me.

I’ve had an amazing time in Iran, and I’m still four hours out of Sydney (in the air) as I finish this newsletter.

The pic above was taken at the holy city of Qom where I helped launch a book on Animal Rights, which I co-authored with Dr Yahya Jahangiri. It was an amazing experience, and totally unlike my other two book launches.

With my first two books, it felt like I was giving birth to a child. Writing them, in each case, took more than a year, and it took at least another year to do all the proof-reading, editing, illustrating and publishing.

In this case, Dr Jahangiri and I both gave a lecture on Animal Rights for his university class and responded to some questions. Then I turn up and find that our lectures been transformed into a book!

The book launch was wonderful, and I’m deeply grateful to Dr Jahangiri, but the really surreal experience I had in Iran was appearing on the ‘Mahfel’ TV show.

I can’t show you any video clips at this stage as it’s not being aired for a few weeks, and the team like to keep the material under wraps until release time. I think it’s OK though to give you a couple of shots with the team in the makeup room. The guy in the top-right is my new best-friend, Morteza. He’s the brains behind the show.

As I say, I can’t give away any details about the show, but suffice it to say that addressing a stadium packed with 500 cheering men and as many veiled women is a long way outside my comfort zone.

The format is similar to what “Iran Has Talent” might look like, with three judges and an MC interacting with each other, with the studio audience, and with the guest speaker, who in this case was me!

I must have spoken for around twenty minutes, responding to questions from the MC and judges. Then some Sheikhs came and joined me on the-stage, and we ended all holding hands, with Palestinian Keffiyehs draped over our shoulders, shouting “For GAZA”. I wish you could have been there!

And speaking of Gaza, I have three other quick things to mention:

My Malaysian friend, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, has sent us an article this week about the Palestinian Prisoner Release. I recommend the article to you.
Our dear sister Diane has created a leaflet about Gaza that she’s trying to get into the hands of church leaders. Please download it here and share it.
Father Mark continues to post curated articles on www.israelandpalestine.org.
I commend both Mark and the site to you as a great way of keeping up-to-date.

Finally, I’ve posted another ‘Ripping Yarn’ this week that I’ll include below. It’s entitled “A Tribute to the Syrian Army”.

I wasn’t really sure if this was the right format to use as this is a very serious topic. I’d appreciate your feedback before going further. If you think I’m trivialising the issue by using this format, let me know and I can take it down.

That will do for me this week. It’s time for me to get home, get to bed, and get some rest if I’m going to be fit for another round tomorrow. 🥊

Wishing you Faith and Hope and LOVE in the week ahead.❤️

your brother in the Good Fight,