“Puff
the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land
called Honali.” I open with these words for two reasons. First,
Cindy and I recently celebrated five years of marriage by travelling to Hawaii,
and one of the sites we visited was Hanalei on the north shore of the island of
Kauai.
Fewer
than 500 people live in Hanalei, a village smaller than one square mile. As a
backdrop of South Pacific, it is often associated with the song popularized by
Peter, Paul and Mary.[1]
Second,
one member of the trio who sang Puff the
Magic Dragon also wrote a song we requested for our wedding. Paul Stookey
wrote Wedding Song in 1969 and
performed it at the wedding of Peter Yarrow, the other male singer of the trio.
Shortly
after his Christian conversion, Yarrow asked Stookey to “bless our wedding with a song.” According to Stookey, “the melody and the words arrived
simultaneously and in response to a direct prayer asking God how the divine
could be present at Peter’s wedding.” Drawing almost verbatim from Matthew
18:20, the original lyric is “I am now to
be among you at the calling of your hearts; rest assured this troubadour is
acting on My part. The union of your spirits here has caused Me to remain for
whenever two or more of you are gathered in My name, There am I...There is
Love.”
Concerned
that the wedding guests might misinterpret his intention, Stookey changed “I”
to “He” until 1990 when he ‘officially’ restored the original lyric.
The
first two lines of the second verse, “A
man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home. And they shall travel on
to where the two shall be as one,” paraphrased Genesis 2:24: "Therefore
a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh."
Believing
he could not take personal credit for composing "The Wedding Song", Stookey set up the Public Domain Foundation,
which since 1971 received the song's royalties for charitable distribution. … If
you have time this week, listen to Paul’s song. You will enjoy it.
Couples
request many songs and readings for their weddings. Paul’s Letter to the
Corinthians is one of the most popular. As a pastor preparing to write a sermon
for their wedding, I ask couples why they choose their readings. Often, they
reply, “Because we like them.” If
couples knew the background of Paul’s Letter, they might choose another passage.
Corinth’s
Christians were a mix of Jews and Gentiles from various economic strata. That
the rich were shameless and the poor were wretched led to ethical and liturgical
problems.
Although
not the founding pastor of their church, Paul made several trips to Corinth. In
essence, he fathered the community and took great interest in its well-being.
The experience of Paul’s second trip, however, left him heart-broken.
Sexual
immorality, legal disputes, Eucharistic abuses and controversies about the
resurrection of the dead were some of the problems Paul encountered. Yet, the
real problem was two-fold: Gnosticism and behavior. The Gnostics were people
who thought that they were wiser than everyone. The others thought they could
do whatever they wanted.
Chapter
13 concerned itself with behavior that caused serious dissension within the
community. While the people causing this dissension were spirit-people or
charismatics, Paul addressed the entire church. Paul based his ecclesiology,
his teaching of Church, on his Christology, his teaching of Christ. To be
Church, Christians were to imitate Christ in their relations with one another. They
could not see themselves as wiser nor could they do whatever they wanted.
In
chapter 13, Paul pointed out how the Corinthian Christians did not reflect
Christ’s love. In verses 4-8, Paul listed what love is and is not. It is not
about personal preference. C.S. Lewis said that to love and to like are not the
same. I can like some people more than others, but I am to love all people.
To
illustrate that love, Paul used the term agape,
one of three Greek words for love. Eros
is passionate love that desires the other for itself. Philos is love of the gods or good friends. Agape has neither the magic of eros
nor the warmth of philos, but is an
unmotivated, active love.
Paul
understood the differences among the three types of love. After all, he grew up
as a typical Hellenistic Jewish student, and as a Christian, understood Jesus’
teaching of love of God, neighbor and enemy. We find all of this in chapter 13,
but rather than define love, Paul personified it. He chose verbs that involved
another person in order to highlight the virtues that the Corinthians
neglected. They were not patient and kind. Some insisted on their own way. The
community rejoiced at wrongdoing.
Citing
himself as an example, Paul spelled out the characteristics of love in such a
way that the Corinthians could recognize it for what it was – the foundation of
the Church. In a community where jealousy and rivalry ruled their hearts,
hearing that love is not jealous, pompous, inflated, rude, self-seeking,
quick-tempered, calculating or joyful in lawlessness or wrongdoing was imperative.
For
Paul, love was not a gift from God like other virtues. Love was not a legal
command to be fulfilled. The love of which Paul wrote was beyond compare
because it was the Spirit of God at work in the Church. As he wrote in chapter
one, the Corinthians lacked no skills, but skills without love matter not in a
faith community awaiting salvation from their Lord.
At
the time Paul visited Corinth, there were about 50 Christians. Gathering 50
adults into one house church would have been difficult, awkward and uncommon.
More likely, families, servants and a few friends met in smaller groups
fostering an intimate family atmosphere that tended to promote divisions within
the wider community.
When
these smaller groups came together, divisions were played out. The host group
sat in the innermost rooms, while the visitors gathered on the porch. The host
group gathered for an early meal, while hungry visitors arrived later. Such
liturgical abuses fostered resentment among church members.
While
the love of the Trinity should have bonded and energized the Body of Christ,
the Church, family ties and friendships tore it apart. That said, why do couples
choose Paul’s Letter? That leads me from Paul’s Letter to Paul’s world.
By
Paul’s world, I mean, my world, your world. Your world and mine share a common
denominator. Each is populated by people. A vast array of people we know and
love, know and do not love, and do not know or love populates our worlds. The population
is so vast that we cannot consider everyone in a short sermon or a lengthy dissertation;
however, we can draw a sampling. Allow me to relate one group of people to our
reading: friends and family.
Starry-eyed
lovers preparing for marriage relate well to Paul’s song and Paul’s letter as their
wedding day approaches. Newlyweds love one another, as they should. The world
of newlyweds often consists of one other person – the person they love. In love
with one another, they – like we – learn that love for one another may not last,
may not suffice. For that reason, couples and families must also love the Other
(with a capital O).
The
Other – God – gets along perfectly well without us. Can we get along without
God? Some argue that we can. They say we can get along without God when our needs
are met. They have money and all that it can buy. They have a strong body and
healthy mind. They are independent and self-reliant, and have someone to love,
and family and friends.
However,
what happens when friends get busy or distracted? When family members move
away, get sick or die? What happens when loved one contract cancer or
Alzheimer’s? When they lose their job or health? Can they get along without God
at those moments? Personally speaking, when my dad died suddenly and when my
mom contracted cancer, suffered for a year and then died, I needed God more
than ever during those moments for my world suffered from the faults of sin and
death.
Personally,
I am learning more than I ever have the importance of Paul’s Letter as it
relates to how I view and treat people. Paul’s song is about children who
outgrow their imaginary friends. Paul’s Letter is about adults who have yet to
grow into Christian maturity and their relationships with one another as
Church. Paul’s world is about how we – beloved children of God – personify
Christ in terms of First Corinthians 13.
In
my relationships with the people I love, am I patient and kind, benevolent and
modest, humble and polite, calm and joyful? Do family and friends see Christ in
me? Do people see in me someone childish or mature? Do they see a person of
faith, hope and love?
Friends,
no simple ditty or wedding song will transform us into mature, thoughtful,
loving Christian men and women. But as we ponder the meaning of God’s Word and
the importance of God’s Sacrament, may we put away childish ways and see in a
mirror who God has called us to be. May Word and Sacrament embodied in us
transform us into God’s sons and daughters who see and treat one another as
Christ’s brothers and sisters. As we do, may the peace of God that surpasses
all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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