Paul writes in his letter to the church in Corinth, “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I a a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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 do not have love, I am nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13: 1-2
Loving God,
When do we have faith without love?
Is it when, exasperated by circumstance,
We curse friend and enemy alike?
Is it when we dare some spite
To save our pride?
Or when we perform as cold duty
What should be instant generosity?
We bring our cares and worries to you each Sunday
And hope for a Monday answer.
Monday is impersonal, competitive, immediate.
We have faith on a holy morning.
Where has it gone by a mid-week’s evening?
Our faith feels firm,
But in the days between our worship of God
Anxieties accumulate.
We would not forgo the beauty
Of Sunday’s poignant prose,
But we fail somehow,
To realize it in our living.
Loving God, why is this so? Amen.
- Prayer found in Spilled Mile: Litanies for Living by Kay Smallzried, 1964.