One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the one we just heard from 1 Corinthians. My wife Pat and I picked this passage to be read at our wedding ceremony. I suspect that many of you did the same. In this passage Paul speaks of love. Paul said in part, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

It seems to me that Paul certainly had the right formula for a happy marriage. But it also seems to me that Paul was speaking of a love that goes beyond the love present in a happy marriage. It seems to me that Paul was speaking of a love that goes beyond what might be considered the easier kinds of love. These easier kinds of love would include the love of a newly wed for their mate, or the love one has for a close parent or family member, or the love one has for a best friend, or the love a soldier has for his closest comrade-a comrade for whom he would die to protect. It seems to me that Paul was talking also about what many refer to as, "Tough Love".

One of the great joys Pat and I have each year on our vacation is reading those books we have earmarked to read but have not had the time to read during our regular routine at home. This year one of those books I read was entitled, "Recessional", by James Michener. In this book Michener focuses on the lives of people who have reached retirement age. For various reasons these individuals and couples have moved into a multi purpose retirement facility in Florida. At first they live in apartments where they stay as long as they are physically able to take care of themselves. When this is no longer the case they move in to assisted living facilities where medical staff is available to assist them with minor physical problems. When serious illnesses strike or develop they move into hospital type facilities where major medical care is provided. My reason for mentioning this book is because it contains a number of stories about relationships that strongly demonstrate for me this tougher kind of love.

In one story the wife in a very devoted couple gradually develops Alzheimer's disease as the years pass in Florida. As the disease progresses the wife becomes increasingly difficult to manage. She gradually loses her memory, including the ability to identify her husband. She begins to verbally abuse him, calling him all sorts of names and accusing him of terrible deeds. She accuses him of stealing her money and telling terrible stories about her. And through all of this the husband continues to show his love and devotion to her. Ignoring the abuse she heaped on him, he continued to care for her tenderly, to attend to her needs as best he could, right up until the very end of her life. Perhaps this story touched me so deeply because I watched my Mother go through this same process with my Father. I know there are those of you who have had this same experience. For me, these are good examples of the tougher kind of love of which Paul speaks.

But going deeper, I see an even tougher kind of love of which Paul speaks. This is the kind of love Jesus demonstrated so strongly in his life towards the prostitute, the Samaritan, the leper, the tax collector, the sinner, and all others who were outcasts and excluded from the community and the society of that time. Jesus demonstrated this kind of love towards his enemies and even those who crucified him. In all of these situations Jesus showed how tough love works. He also demonstrated so well the positive and healing value of inclusivity in building human relationships as opposed to the destructive nature of the exclusivity common in those days as well as today.

It seems to me that our weakness in dealing with this issue of inclusion versus exclusion of all beings into our collective society is one of the biggest problems we face today as a human race. Just as it has been in the past, our difficulty seems to be in accepting those who are different from us. This problem has been and still is the basis for most of the discord, disharmony, conflict, and wars we have had in our society and in our history. We seem to be suspicious of all who are different from us in race, color, creed, religion, nationality, political or economic system, or sexual preference. It seems that we feel the necessity to change, exploit, eliminate, or isolate ourselves from those who are different from us even if this requires violence or war. Perhaps Paul and Jesus had the answer to this dilemma 2000 years ago and we are still struggling to fully understand their message about tough love.

I perceive that what is needed here is an expansion in our beliefs about God, about others, and about life. Such belief expansions would be helpful in changing the way we behave towards those who are different from us. For example, if we begin to look upon God as creator of all, including all human beings, we could begin to appreciate and enjoy the diversity God put into each human being. Perhaps if we more fully recognize that God put a part of his Spirit into every human being we can begin to treat every person with the respect that human deserves as a receptacle of God's Spirit. Perhaps if we believe that God is love we can more fully experience the presence of God in our lives by showing our love and acceptance of all others just as Jesus did.

In conclusion, I would like to explore with you how well our religious institutions have done and are doing in helping to bring about the kinds of changes mentioned previously-that is expansions in our beliefs about God, in our beliefs about life, and in our beliefs and actions towards those who are different from us. Bishop Spong has a wonderful saying that summarizes his opinion about how well our religious institutions are doing in addressing these issues. Bishop Sponge says, "The fastest growing church institution today is the church alumni association." With these words Bishop Spong speaks to the fact that the major Christian churches are losing members rapidly because of their relative failure in coming up with answers to our key faith questions, such as the ones above. He is also addressing the deficiency of the efforts of our present churches in bringing about increased understanding between and concerns for the well being of all the diverse peoples in our nation and in our world today.

In my view such faith answers, such increased understandings, and actions in response to these concerns are vitally needed if we are to reduce the distrust, the disharmony, the violence, the discord and the wars we continue to experience so frequently in our world today.

It pleases me greatly to see how far we have come here as the people of St. Thomas in working towards the achievement of these goals. We have a wonderful diverse congregation that is welcoming to all people regardless of their race, color, national origin, previous religious affiliation, economic status, political affiliation, or sexual preferences. We were one of the early congregations in our Nation to welcome women priests to lead us spiritually. We were one of the first congregations to call a woman priest as our rector. We have used the new and revised liturgies supported by sermons to express expanded views about God, about life, and about our relationships to all others and to all of God's creation. We have put our beliefs about caring for all others into action through programs such as Our Daily Bread, Rotating Shelter, and Fish. I commend all of you for everything you have done and are continuing to do to make this community and our world the kind of place that we want it to become.

I share with you now two quotations by two great men that summarize for me so well these thoughts about love for all others and for all of creation.

The first quotation is from Thomas Edison, who said, "Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."

The second quotation is from Albert Einstein who said, "Any society which does not insist upon respect for all life must necessarily decay,"

Amen