Love Stories

“Tell me your love story.”

            I begin pre-marital counseling with couples with question.  It gives the couple a chance to walk me through their introduction, their courtship, and their engagement story.  Their story reveals what make each special to the other.  I learn what their love looks like, the parts of the other that makes them smile, and the joy they find in each other. 

            All of us have a love story to tell. 

            Some of our love stories come straight out a great romantic comedy.  We struggled to find love.  We overcame obstacles.  We fought for the person we loved.  Love triumphed. 

            Other love stories take time to develop or emerge out of our ordinariness of our lives.  These stories aren’t often captured on film; yet, they are often the very essence of our lives.  They are our stories and we love to share them. 

            In last Sunday’s sermon, I mentioned a painting by Hugh MacLeod, a cartoonist.  The painting has this brief and powerful statement:  “A story without Love is not worth telling.”  MacLeod goes on to say, “The best stories are about things we care about, told to the people we care about. This is true whether we’re talking fiction, fact, people, ideas or yes, the story about the business you’re trying to get off the ground.”

            Love stories are the stories of our lives – the stories where we embrace the love we have received as children of the King and chose to extend this love to others in the world.  Love stories are the alleyways we live out our faith.

            Our vision as a church says simple:  “We exist to the love the world as God loves us.”  As a church, we are joining God in the love story God is writing in the world.  The love we share with the world extends from the love we receive from God.  We live love stories every day. 

            Over the next month, I will be inviting different individuals and couples to share their “Love Stories” with us in worship.  Some of these stories will be our traditional love stories – boy meets girl, they fall in love, and love is shared in a life of together.  Others will be stories of how we as a church are sharing the love of Jesus with the world.  Other stories will be examples of how our faith is impacting individuals around us through the lives of love and service we live.  Each story will be unique and different.   Each story begins with the foundation that undergirds all we do:  “For God loved the world so much, he gave his one and only son …”

            Don’t be surprised over the months ahead when you hear me ask you to “tell me your love story.”