If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
This pivotal chapter, written by St. Paul to a church which has gone off the rails in terms of spiritual gifts and communion, emphasises that without love, all else is void. Also it hangs in between two chapters talking about spiritual gifts. It acts like a fulcrum on an old-fashioned pair of scales. Take the fulcrum away and the scales are useless.
Now that my (relatively) high rate savings accounts are coming towards their expiry dates, I need to find something new. That will be a challenge.
.@metpoliceuk officer, 33, held on suspicion of misconduct in a public office under UK's Operation #Elveden probe into corrupt payments
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 1, 2013
I completed the update to the MET web site to allow people to apply to be placed on the mailing list.
Put the final touches to week 3 of the Welcoming Churches course for Nottingham (East) next week. I'm really pleased with the end result.
Had a strenuous game of tennis but feel all the better for it.
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