NEW SERIES: The Power of Love

From the Pastor
Fall Series Lifts Up “The Power of Love”

The power of love is a curious thing. Make one man weep, make another man sing…Don’t need money, don’t take fame, don’t need no credit card to ride this train.It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes, but it might just save your life…
Huey Lewis and The News, “The Power of Love”

An elder told me that he thought people at our church would appreciate sermons on Christian marriage and Christian parenting. My first reaction was, “Let me try to find someone who knows something about that!” But with 15 years experience at one and six at the other, I’m right in the middle of the journey along with so many of you. I am married to a wonderful man with whom I have great communication, and who inspires me to try to be the best wife I can be. And you know my two Beauties and may have your own opinion on my parenting skills. (Help! I have to go start the service! Somebody find Laurel!)

Besides being a wife and a parent, I have many interesting resources from doing premarital counseling – topics like communication and common vision – that can be applied to different life situations. And for over 20 years I’ve collected books about love, including love poems, love around the world, love letters and quotes about love. As I seek to fill my life with love, I think I’ll have fun preparing these messages.

The larger context: Christian love
But don’t think the “love” sermons will be just about relationships. That’s the way our society thinks of love, and it’s very limiting. Love is a much broader topic than what you find in romance novels, movies and television. Theologian Leon Morris wrote that the idea of love as sexually oriented passion “is much more limited than the wide-ranging, sacrificial love to which Christians aspire. If we look to modern novelists or modern western society to define love, we will not understand Christian love.”

So while the sermons will have lots of helpful ideas for marriage and parenting, they will be set in the larger context of a whole series called “The Power of Love,” including messages on God’s love for us and our love for God. My goal for each Sunday is to bring you a strong message of the power of love which can inspire all of us, regardless of our marital status or stage of life.

I recognize that not all experiences of love are positive. “Whoever thought up the idea of love is no friend of mine,” says a bitter woman in a song by Dar Williams. If you are wishing you knew how to love better, if you are desperate to find love, or if you are in recovery from the loss of a love, you are in my thoughts and prayers as I prepare these messages. Plan to bring a friend to church to get inspired and receive God’s love for you.

I would love to hear your stories or ideas. I can also recommend books if you want to do additional reading. Call me, come see me, or e-mail at riverandvine@verizon.net.

Here are some of the topics I’m working on and books I’m looking at.

God’s love for the unlovable
The faithful and unconditional love of God
The cross as the foundation for Christian love
Our love for God – feeling it, expressing it
Love and wrath – closer than you imagine
Is love an emotion or a decision?
When love hurts
Loving your enemies or people who are just annoying
Parenting with love
Affection and true friendship
Self-love and acceptance
Love for humanity and for those in need
Neil Warren’s The Triumphant Marriage: 100 Extremely Successful Couples Reveal Their Secrets
Ed Wright’s Understanding the Men in your Life and Before You Say I Do
Les and Leslie Parrott’s Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts
Gary Smalley’s The Five Love Languages and Winning Your Wife Back
Sandra Gray Bender’s Recreating Marriage with the Same Old Spouse
Leon Morris’ Testaments of Love will be my guiding theological framework.

INXS host gets it

Rock Star: INXS is a TV show in which singers compete to be the new lead singer of the Australian band INXS. Mig, a 35-year old musician from London, brought the house down August 16 with a heartfelt rendition of Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way.” After the performance, host/judge Dave Navarro (guitarist for Jane’s Addiction and husband of Carmen Electra) told Mig, “Every week we sit here, I'm usually thinking about what my comments are going to be. Tonight all I could think about is how much I love my wife."

Isn’t that the purpose of a love song? That’s what we’ll be after with this series on love. Not just to give you important information about God’s love and how to love each other, but to invite the Word of God to transform us, so that we are filled with love. It is the same thing that our church musicians aspire to. They are not interested in having us evaluate and applaud a “performance”; rather, they hope that you’ll be drawn close to God and be empowered to praise God when they are singing and playing.

A new opportunity: TalkBack on Mondays

Michael and I are opening our home on Monday nights in the fall to anyone who wants to join us for dinner and discussion of the previous day’s sermon. It may include: Q and A on the sermon, additional information and stories that didn’t make it from my desk to the pulpit, relevant jokes and quotes that were not suitable for preaching, sharing ideas for applying the message to our lives, supporting each other, and a preview of next week’s message. We also might share songs (live or on CD) and even watch video clips that relate to the topic of love.

Sign up on Sunday morning at church to come over the following evening. We will provide a simple supper at 6:30 p.m. and be finished around 8 or 8:30. Your children are welcome. Briefly turning on our TV to check the football scores is also OK. For more information, give me a call, and I look forward to spending time with you!

Cynthia O’Brien