Mount Calvary Caller - January 2019

mount calvary lutheran church vol. 1 january 2019
loves
actually
by Pastor Dave Olson
Clergy and other nerds are fond of
lifting up the knowledge that the Greek
language (which the New Testament
is written in) contains four different
words for love. There is philia, or
what we might describe as friendship
love; eros, which is romantic love; and
storge is used to talk about love of
family, tribe, country and the affection
between parent and child. The fourth
word for love, and the one used to
describe the love Jesus commands of
us and which illustrates the divine and
steadfast love of God for us is "agape".
Agape is a love that is unconditional,
sacrificial, and filled with grace. In the
English language we use the same
word for loving pizza, Jesus, days off,
wife and football. Hmmm.
The challenge for preachers, as you
might expect, is to transcend our
nerdiness and make our sermons
relevant for the loves of your life.
What does it look like as a follower of
Jesus to love friends, family, spouse
and country? What does it look like to
have agape love be the template for
the other loves of our lives? What are
the dangers to health and happiness
when you love pizza and football more
than you love your wife? When C.S.
Lewis wrote his book The Four Loves,
he points out both the opportunities
and the risks in each. When does
love become codependence or lead
to a desire to control? When does
a human love become an idolatry
or become a bargaining chip in a
relationship? C.S. Lewis wrote that
"We may give our human loves the
unconditional allegiance which we
owe only to God. Then they become
gods; then they become demons.
Then they will destroy us and also
destroy themselves." When we
explore together how disciples of
Jesus embrace the four loves we
are not talking about squishy, warm
fuzzies but about the building blocks