and now in the name of our loving
liberating and life-giving God Father
Son and Holy Spirit a man from the Song
of Solomon in the Bible set me as a seal
upon your heart as a seal upon your arm
the love is as strong as death passion
fears as the grave
it's flashes of flashes of fire a raging
flame many waters cannot quench love
neither can floods drown it out the late
dr. Martin Luther King once said in that
quote we must discover the power of love
the redemptive power of love and when we
do that we will make of this old world a
new world but love love is the only way
there's power in love don't
underestimate don't even over
sentimentalize it there's power power in
love if you don't believe me think about
a time when you first fell in love the
whole world seemed to center around you
and your beloved well this power power
in love not just in its romantic forms
but any form any shape of love there's a
certain sense in which when you are
loved and you know it when someone cares
for you and you know
when you love and you show it it
actually feels right there's something
right about it and there's a reason for
it
the reason has to do with the source we
were made by a power of love and our
lives were meant and are meant to be
lived in that love that's why we were we
are here ultimately the source of love
is God Himself the source of all of our
lives there's an old medieval poem that
that says where true love is found God
Himself is there the New Testament says
it this way beloved let us love one
another because love is of God and those
who love are born of God and know God
those who do not love do not know God
for god is love there's power in love
there's power in love to help and heal
when nothing else can there's power in
love to lift up and liberate nothing
else will there's power to show us the
way to live set me as a seal on your
heart a seal on your heart for love it's
as strong as death but but love is not
only about a young couple now the power
of love is demonstrated by the fact that
we're all here to young people fell in
love and we all showed up but but it's
not just for and about a young couple
who we rejoice with it's more than that
Jesus of Nazareth on one occasion was
asked by a lawyer to sum up the essence
of the teachings of Moses and and and
and he went back and reached back into
the Hebrew Scriptures to Deuteronomy and
Leviticus and Jesus said you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart
all your soul all your mind and all your
strength this is the first and Great
Commandment and the second is like it
love your neighbor as yourself and then
in Matthews version he said on these two
love of God and love of neighbor hang
all the law all the prophets that Moses
wrote everything is the holy prophets
everything everything that God has been
trying to tell the world love God love
your neighbors and why you edit love
yourself know someone once said that
Jesus began the most revolutionary
movement in all of human history a
movement grounded in the unconditional
love of God for the world and a movement
mandating people to live that love and
in so doing to change that of only their
lives but the very life of the world
itself I'm talking about some power
legal power power to change the world if
you don't believe me well there were
small slaves in America's antebellum
South who explained the dynamic power of
love and why it has the power to
transform they explained it this way
they sang a spiritual even in the midst
of their captivity it's one that says
there is a balm and giving a healing
balm something that can make things
right there is a balm in Gilead to make
the wounded whole there is a balm in
Gilead to heal the sick soul and one of
the things actually explains why they
said if you cannot preach like Peter and
you cannot pray like Paul you just tell
the love of Jesus how he died to save us
oh oh that's the balm in Gilead this way
of love is the way of life they got it
he died to save us all he didn't die for
anything he could get out of it
Jesus did not get an honorary Doctorate
for dying he didn't he wasn't getting
anything out of it
he gave up his life he sacrificed his
life for the good of others for the good
of the other for the well-being of the
world for us that's what love is love is
not selfish and so centered love can be
sacrificial and in so doing becomes
redemptive in that way of one selfish
sacrificial redemptive love changes
lives and can change this world if you
don't believe me just just stopping
thing for imagine think
and imagine well he can imagine a world
where love is the way imagine our homes
and families when love is the way
imagine neighborhoods and communities
where love is the way it
imagine governments and nations where
love is the way imagine business and
commerce when love is the way imagine
this tired old world when love is is the
way when love is the way unselfish
sacrificial redemptive when love is the
way then no child will go to bed hungry
in this world ever again when love is
the way we will let justice roll down
like a mighty stream and righteousness
like an ever-flowing group and love is
the way poverty will become history
when the love is the way the earth will
be a sanctuary and love is the way we
will lay down our swords and shields
down by the riverside to study War no
more when love is the way there's plenty
good room got a good room for all of
God's children love is the way we
actually treat each other well like
we're actually family when love is the
way
we know that God is the source of us all
and we are brothers and sisters children
of God my brothers and sisters that's a
new heaven a new earth a new world a new
human family and let me tell you
something old Solomon was right in the
Old Testament that's fire
they are decied on and with this I will
sit down we got to get you all married
French Jesuit ard showdown was arguably
one of the great minds great spirits of
the 20th century Jesuit Roman Catholic
priest scientists a scholar a mystic in
some of his writings he said from his
scientific background as well as his
theological one some of his writings has
said as others have that the discovery
or invention or harnessing of fire was
one of the great one of the great
scientific and technological discoveries
in all of human history fire to a great
extent made human civilization possible
fire made it possible to cook food and
and to provide sanitary ways of eating
which reduced the spread of disease in
its time fire made it possible to to
heat warm environment and thereby made
human migration around the world a
possibility even into colder climates
fire made it possible there is no there
was no Bronze Age without fire no Iron
Age without fire no Industrial
Revolution without fire the advances of
science and technology are greatly
dependent on the human ability and
capacity to take fire and use it for
human good anybody get here in a car
today an automobile knock your heads if
you did I'm guessing I know there were
some carriages but those of us who came
on cars fire the controlled harnessed
fire made that possible I know that the
Bible says I believe Jesus walked on the
water but I have to tell you I didn't
walk across the Atlantic Ocean to get
here
controlled fire in that plane got me
here fire makes it possible for us to
text and tweet an email and Instagram
and and Facebook and socially be
dysfunctional with each other fire all
of that possible and and de Chardin said
fire was one of the greatest discoveries
in all of human history and he then went
on to say that if humanity ever
harnesses the energy of fire again if
humanity ever captures the energy of
love it will be the second time in
history that we have discovered fire
dr. King was right we must discover love
the redemptive power of love and when we
do that we will make of this old world a
new world my brother my sister
God love you god bless you and may God
hold us all in those Almighty hands of
love