If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am 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. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

? Elvis Presley - Love Me Tender (1956)

? Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love (1964)

? Beatles - All You Need Is Love (1967)

? Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love (1977-1978)

? Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love (1980)

? Foreigner - I Want to Know What Love Is (1985)

? Bon Jovi - You Give Love a Bad Name (1986)

? Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (1987)

? B-52s ? Love Shack (1989)

? Michael Bolton - When a Man Loves a Woman (1991)

? Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From 'Titanic') (1998)

? Taylor Swift - Love Story (2009)

? Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (2015)

As Heather and I looked at the music for worship today, I kept singing all different types of love songs. The one that has continued to float around in my head is ?All You Need is Love? by the Beatles. And as I read through the lyrics, I realized that this is one of the most repetitive songs I have ever sung!

Love, love, love Love, love, love Love, love, love There's nothing you can do that can't be done Nothing you can sing that can't be sung Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy Nothing you can make that can't be made No one you can save that can't be saved Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time It's easy All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need Love, love, love Love, love, love Love, love, love All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need Nothing you can know that isn't known Nothing you can see that isn't shown Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be It's easy All you need is love All you need is love All you need is love, love Love is all you need All you need is love (All together, now!) All you need is love (Everybody!) All you need is love, love Love is all you need Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Yee-hai! (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Yesterday (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Love is all you need (Love is all you need) Oh yeah! (Love is all you need) She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need) She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)

But I don?t think the Beatles really captured the meaning of love in this song. There are probably some artists who are able to capture the meaning and nature of love in their songs, but it would take a lot of time to do all of that research. So the reason we are singing the hymns we are today, is because we thought these were great songs about love, especially God?s love for all people. In addition, we have all had varying experiences around love. For some of us, we don?t remember being loved as a child. Others remember that love was listening, obeying, and submission-you received love if you did what I said. And for others, love was affection, care, relationships, and more. And maybe, it was a mixture of all of it. Love is a word that is thrown around loosely, but has significant meaning, brings up different feelings for people, and causes a response in us.

If we start by saying that nature of love is that first meeting between the mother and child. It is a physical meeting through touch, body, eyes, smile, tears, laughter. In those early moments, a child discovers that he or she is loved. And because she is loved, she is someone. Love will always entail the eyes and the physical touch in some way. Love implies always speaking to the person behind the behavior, behind the capacity and knowledge. Behind the angers, fear, anguish, there is you! Love is not just a way of looking, it is also a way of listening, of being present, of understanding, of helping the other to change and to grow. This means that love implies humility. To love the child who is acting so aggravatingly or to love the grandparent that is always forgetting my name, demands some effort. To love someone who is not looking and is not paying attention, or to knock on door of someone we do not really want to see, is a challenge. Love is not about helping people to be the way that we want them to be or the way we think that they should be. Love is unconditional. Loves implies that we have the desire to help people to be fully themselves.

And all of that leads to asking the question, what does love mean? What is the nature of love? Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians says these words:

?Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.?

Love is patient- Patience is when others are so annoying, they make you climb the wall or make you feel like you cannot stand another minute in their presence. This is how we learn patience. Patience is something that we learn, we are not born with it. And for some of us, this is something we are constantly learning. Patience is waiting?waiting for beauty to be revealed, trusting that you are an integral and unique part of the human family. It is about believing that in you there is something more precious that your apparent anger and anguish. It is about accepting your feelings and waiting for your innermost identity to be revealed. Patience is like waiting for a seed that has been planted in the ground. Patience involves faithfulness. Love is patience.

Love is not envious, or jealous- We show our jealousy and envy when someone else reaches an achievement that we haven?t, or when act poorly when someone else receives a promotion, award, advancement, or recognition that we feel we should have received instead. Sometimes we hold on to something or someone in ways that aren?t healthy. Love is not about holding on, but about waiting for something to be revealed.

Love is not boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way.- Sometimes we use our words or actions in ways to prove that we have more power, that we are stronger, louder, more stubborn. Yet, love is about serving. It is about humbly being with the other. It is acknowledging that I am not here to prove that I am better than you. I am a human, a child of God, just like you. We are each unique. It is believing these words from the Apostle Paul, ?there are many parts, but one body?If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together (1 Corinthians 12:20, 26).?

Love is?

The summary of the rest of the commandments.

The foundation for how we should treat others.

The mission for every church.

The filter for how we should see the world.

The framework for what we say and teach.

The blueprint for building our lives.

The reason Jesus came to sacrifice His life for us.

Loving God helps you love yourself. Loving God helps you love others. Loving yourself helps you love God. Loving yourself helps you love others. Loving others helps you love God. Loving others helps you love yourself.