Alumni Post: Sarah Bourgeois
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
-1 Corinthians 13:1-7
As I recently read these familiar verses typically read at a wedding ceremony, they struck me differently than only being the ideal way to love your spouse. It made me wonder: have Christians been loving one another like this? Have we interacted with our world through this lens, or have we been insisting on our own way? Throughout all of the long-awaited political reckonings our country is currently wading through, how often have Christians been viewed as impatient, unkind, and resentful?
I believe that over time the Church has handed over the responsibility of the Gospel to our political system. Instead of doing the work of extending biblical love by reaching our hands into messy places or situations, we vote for laws that will carry out our beliefs for us, insisting on our own way by mingling the Constitution with the Gospel. In doing so, we are often choosing to target and punish those most in need of Christ’s love and healing.
What if, instead, under the sole banner of Christ and not political parties, the Church bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things as this passage describes? What if the Church helped bear all things like the weight of an unexpected pregnancy? Instead of relying on illegalizing abortion, what if the Church chose to step in and support on behalf of the child’s life—and the mother’s—anyway? What if, instead of rejoicing over a black man being wrongfully imprisoned, we believed all things, including his story, and rejoiced in truth and justice? Instead of digging our heels in and opposing civil rights movements, what if we believed people when they said they were hurting? What if we hoped and endured all things, like loving one another well enough to stay present and patient during difficult conversations?
I read a wonderfully powerful book by author and founder of Preemptive Love, Jeremy Courtney, entitled Love Anyway. His writings share his experiences as a career missionary in Iraq. Early on, he had a realization:
“What if we could love first and ask questions later? Why are we so afraid of loving the wrong person? … What if the only way to truly live is to take love more seriously than we ever have? We could give our lives away, jumping forward to love others before they do anything to love us!”
Along with this:
“But what if God is even more generous than we thought? What if our idea of what it means to be ‘blessed’ or ‘chosen' isn’t all there is? What if forgiveness sets everybody free?”
Since reading his book, I have thought of this concept over and over again. What if we started choosing to love first? Before someone believes the same as us. Before they fit into our mold of “good” or “right.” Paul directs us to consider ourselves the worst amongst sinners; this serves as a reminder that everyone is just as deserving of the Lord’s abounding grace, mercy, and justice that we ourselves received. It is not our role to decide who does or does not deserve healing or forgiveness. To be vessels of the Holy Spirit and to love well, it is meeting one another with understanding in the face of sin that will lead to redemption. His kindness leads to repentance. In scripture, we rarely see Jesus insist that someone deserves to be left where they are - even if they made the choices that got them there; He only gently offers salvation after taking a moment to know them. He recognizes their brokenness yet does not condemn them.
We can insist on our way all we want. We can forcibly move metaphorical mountains all we want, but without love that endures all circumstances it counts for nothing. It leads no one closer to the feet of Jesus. I pray that those of us who consider ourselves to be Christians would ask ourselves where we haven’t loved one another well or perhaps where we’ve let our loyalty to a political party supersede our calling to the Gospel. I pray for patience and kindness, for yourself and others; may we not rejoice in wrongdoing, but only in the Truth. Amen.
Sarah Boothe Bourgeois attended and served at the Wesley throughout her time as a student at Tech and went on to serve as a missionary intern from 2017-2018. After spending a year growing in their love of agriculture while working on a farm in Maryland, she and her husband Josh have recently returned to Ruston and (with great celebration) to the Wesley community. She now works at Tech as a student recruiter. Sarah is a delight to anyone she meets, spreading laughter, encouragement, wisdom, tons of fun, and a love of the Lord wherever she goes.