L O V E
by Chris Drury, SRBA Music Consultant

To give a brief introduction my name is Christopher Drury and I am the new Worship Consultant for the Savannah River Baptist Association I am happily married with 2.87 children and I am the Worship Director at The Link.

Recently I felt the need to reread 1 Corinthians 13 again which is commonly known as “The Love Chapter”, and I have to tell you this Chapter opened my eyes to see that worship is more than music.  The chapter reads…

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 ¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The love Chapter is typically used in weddings and pre-marital counseling, but it is not exclusive to marriage. It is about authentic, personal growth in every arena of life. Having an amazing praise team, singing with all your might, being a dynamic leader, having a faith that’s influential, or sacrificing everything you possess is noise pollution if true love is not emerging in your life and not just in your marriage. Do not misunderstand me; those things are wonderful, but they are the result of love not its definition.

I think we forget to grow because we genuinely want to make an impact in the world, and since our focus is the enormous task of changing the world we forget to let God change us. The focus of impacting the world is a weapon of mass distraction. The world will truly transform once we truly allow God to transform us (because God is the only hope for transformation).

This year I have committed to personal spiritual growth and I am willing to bet the world around me will be deeply influenced by the wake of change in my life …for true love is captivating and contagious.

So the question I ask you is: what would the world look like if The Church could adopt love as an action and not a feeling? Patience, kindness, contention, modesty, humility, selflessness, peace, forgiveness, mercy, protection, trust, hope, and perseverance…worship in motion…this could change the world one person at a time.