In a Mirror Dimly

I’m going to tell you a secret this morning, and I hope after you learn this secret, you won’t think less of me.

When I served as minister at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian church in Brampton, Ontario, we did a lot of weddings. One summer, when two other churches in town were having problems - the ceiling of the sanctuary in the United Church was falling down, and the Baptist Church had a fire in their building – that summer we had 44 weddings at St. Andrew’s.

It was usually the same team – the same three of us who made these weddings happen – Henry, the church custodian, Shelagh on the organ bench, and me, officiating at the wedding. I think over the years we were together as a team, we literally performed hundreds of weddings in that sanctuary.

Now, usually when I do a wedding ceremony, I have a short sermon – some words of advice and reflection for the couple and for their gathered family and friends.

So, here’s the secret.

In that short sermon, I would usually say pretty much the same thing every time. I think I made it sound personal and spontaneous,and people seemed to appreciate it, but it was pretty much the same, every time.

And poor Henry and Shelagh had heard my favourite lines over and over so many times, they could quote them, and they did. They quoted my favourite lines back to me. And they teased me about this, and they laughed at me. That’s right I said not they laughed with me. They laughed at me!

Now, of course, part of the problem is, I’d always be speaking from the same text in the Bible, every wedding. Four out of five wedding planners recommend I Corinthians 13 for their couples who choose Bible verses. It’s the passage we read this morning.

I think it’s probably the piece of scripture I’ve read more than any other part of the Bible. Now, I know I Corinthians 13 is not really a passage for or about wedding ceremonies or newly married couples. It’s really a text that speaks to what is essential for authentic Christian community – a text concerning the importance of love being at the heart of church life. And as I’ve been studying and thinking about this Bible passage in preparing this sermon, I’ve come to see it as a passage speaking to the challenge of how to live the Christian life – about becoming a mature and “grown up” follower of Christ.

Why is it so hard to “grow up?”

I Corinthians says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child … but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways … and now I know … we see in a mirror dimly … but now I know …

Why is it so hard to “grow up?”

It’s hard for a ten-year-old who’s the last hold out for Santa Claus in his class, who for reasons of his own knows this is the year he has to give in and stop believing in something his friends gave up years ago.

He comes into the kitchen and with a sad look on his face he pronounces, “Well … I guess there isn’t any Santa Claus …”

“Really,” you say, “Well what do you think about that?”

He just looks at you … “It kind of ruins it,” he says.

Why is it so hard to grow up?

It’s hard on the young man or woman who desperately wants to fall in love, but even more, wants to believe that another person will fall in love with him or her.

It’s what leads to the hot and steamy encounter in the room after the party, and then when that turns out to be just all empty promises and hormones, because the next day when your beloved acts like you don’t even exist … it’s what sends that young man or young woman to my office – heartbroken and humiliated.

“I didn’t mean for things to go like this … I thought he loved me … I thought she loved me …”

Why is it so hard?

It’s hard on the preacher, especially the newly graduated minister who has dreams of shining sermons and people hungry for the Word of God to fall like golden dewdrops from her mouth. It’s what sent her to seminary in the first place ... and … it’s what brings her to a conference on “renewal in ministry,” many years later – tired and bruised … and all grown up.

I Corinthians says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child … but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways … and now I know … we see in a mirror dimly.

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many young people with a keen faith in God – wanting to follow in the footsteps of Jesus … ready to move mountains. They’re fresh from some life changing experience at a conference, at a camp, at a special worship service. They’re eager to go out and “win the world for Christ!”

“What do you want to do with your faith?” I ask them.

They can’t wait to tell me!

“I want to speak about my faith to other people. I want to be powerful and prophetic. I want to change lives. I want to understand the deepest mysteries of God and scripture. I want to give away everything I have to become a disciple of Christ. Nothing else matters to me anymore!”

“Wow!” I say, “Do you actually know anybody like that?”

“Of course!” they say, and they tell me about some powerful Christian influence in their lives, sometimes they tell me about something far less flashy. They tell me about people like you, people in their church – people in whom they experienced the love and presence of Christ …

I remember a person like that in my home church - not the preacher or some great sermon, just a man who acted as our substitute youth group leader, when the usual youth leader was away. And this man was a horrible youth group leader. He hadn’t been to any workshops in “how to identify with teens”, “making a connection with your young people”, “How to plan for interactive games with youth”. He was a terrible youth leader.

His name was Ewen McEwen. And this was in the late 1960’s. His hair was out of style and his clothes were out of style. He was about a hundred and fifty years old. He was not at all cool, but he volunteered for this job – to work with young people at the church, and no one had the heart to turn him down. What he’d do when he led the youth group, is he’d come in and open his Bible, and he would read for an hour. Now this is just not the way to teach teenagers about the Christian faith, or about God, right? You’re supposed to have a creative curriculum with activities and projects, games and “discussion starter questions.” He would just read from the Bible. And we’d groan, and behind his back we’d make fun of him when we thought he wasn’t looking. And I’ve thought about it since then. He couldn’t have been stupid. He had to know that we were snickering and laughing at him, but he kept coming.

So, the moment I remember is this: He’s reading from the Bible, and then he stops, and we’re not listening. We’re making faces at one another. But suddenly, we realize he’s not talking any longer.

And I remember thinking, “He’s died!” And so, we looked up and Mr. McEwen is crying - and this is in the ‘60’s - men don’t cry! And we thought, “What’s going on?” And Mr. McEwen tried to start reading again, and he’s reading this thing about soldiers pressing a crown of thorns into Jesus' head - they abuse him – and then again, Mr. McEwen can’t. He sheds more tears. And we’re thinking to ourselves, “What is this?”

And I’ll never forget, he looks up and says, “Don’t you boys and girls see what they did, to my Lord?” I’ll never forget it. It’s simple but every word is so perfect. He didn’t say, “Now you must see!” No “don’t you see”. It was so plaintive. “Don’t you see what they did,” not to Jesus, but “to my Lord.” It was beautiful. I’ll never forget that moment. It changed me, and made me feel my faith in a more intense and powerful way.

But let’s face it. It’s hard to keep up that kind of enthusiasm and power. Let’s be honest here and take a look at some of the phrases in I Corinthians 13. I mean, when was the last time you spoke to someone about your faith with “the tongues of angels?” When have you ever suspected that the committee you serve on here at St. Andrew’s had “prophetic powers?” Given the chance, would you even want to understand “all mysteries and all knowledge?” When did it last cross your mind, after the Sunday morning worship service, that this might just be the right day to “give away all your possessions and hand over your body to be sacrificed?” Do you believe any of that? When we were young and idealistic, maybe, but when we became grown up Christians, we gave up childish ways, didn’t we? We gave up the challenges and promises of God’s love we read about in I Corinthians 13 and we handed it over to the brides and grooms to be sugared and frosted and toasted beyond recognition.

And the Apostle Paul’s “more excellent way” for us to live together in Christian community, or to live as a follower of Christ, becomes simply the top sentimental favourite for wedding couples who want only the best for their wedding day.

I Corinthians says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child … but when I grew up, I gave up childish ways … and now I know … now I know … we see in a mirror dimly.

We’re all grown up now! We take those promises with a grain of salt. We know Paul was exaggerating. He didn’t really mean that someone on a committee in a Presbyterian Church in Victoria would actually possess prophetic powers. He didn’t really expect us to speak to other people about our faith with “the tongues of angels.”

When Jesus said, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to that mountain “Move!” and it would get up and move. I don’t think he expected me to relocate the Rocky Mountains to Winnipeg.

I see the promises of scripture in a “mirror dimly.” I think that’s reasonable. I’m only human and I don’t want to put too much pressure on new Christians or young people fresh from a life changing experience with God or put that kind of pressure on myself! I want to be able to sleep at night. I don’t want them to feel that the entire future of the Christian faith lies personally on each one of them, and me. I don’t want to set them up for disappointment. No one can be a Christian with the idealism of a child forever! We gave up angelic tongues a long time ago.

But then I run into a person who’s new to the faith. They don’t see in a mirror dimly. They haven’t given up childish things. They don’t even know the way they’re living the Christian faith is like a child. And it makes me wonder, when did the arthritis set in? When did I start being a Christian, like an adult? What would it be like to live the Christian faith as a child again?

Actually, the Apostle Paul has some ideas. His “more excellent way” has a definite central theme. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, and do not have love,I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…” Look at that. He doesn’t say “and don’t have faith.” He doesn’t say, “and don’t have hope.” He says, “if I don’t have love.” And that’s not what I would have expected Paul to say. Is love the problem with our living out the Christian faith? Is love the first thing to go?

These days I hear a lot of people talking about faith and hope. Those are hard to hold onto. It’s hard to live the Christian life when your faith is tested. And let’s face it, in 2026 the life of faith is under constant assault. And when it comes to “hope” – troubles in the Middle East, climate change, the steady decline in the church, income inequality, the breakup of the family – hope seems to be in pretty short supply.

Surely, the Apostle Paul of all people should know Christians need a steady supply of faith and hope, a lot more than they need love. Isn’t love the easy part? Isn’t it supposed to be the easy part for any of us? Well, yes it is, and I’ll tell you why, because love is what we already have.

I Corinthians, chapter 13 is all about love – God’s love. Paul’s not talking about the syrupy, sweet stuff. He means the Greek word “agape” – God’s love, unconditional love. If we speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels and don’t have God’s love, it’s nothing, I’m nothing, that’s it, to love God, to love God’s word, to love one another, to be loved, without that we’re just a lot of hot air and noise. But here’s what I need to tell you, we have love, we are loved!

When Paul talks about love in this passage, he’s assuming we already have it. He trusts, as a follower of Christ, that we already are loved, already able to give perfect love. When we read this passage , we can get so wrapped up in the word “if,” that we forget he never uses that word “if” when it comes to love. This passage says love is already there - already here – in you and in me. God loves us so much, God sent a child into the world so we might be saved through that child, through his work in the world. Jesus came to do God’s work on earth.

You know, maybe we have to stop looking in that “mirror dimly.” Take our eyes off the reflection of ourselves, because when we look away, we don’t see God dimly! We see God everywhere! In one another as bright as day, and it isn’t hard at all. Tear your eyes away from the mirror, and you know once again how to live the Christian life like a child – God’s child.

I want to tell you, when I talk with new Christians or young Christians, and I ask them what turned their lives around. They don’t tell me about a great sermon or a great book or some preacher on TV. What they remember is the love – a youth group leader, a Sunday School teacher, a relative or friend, sometimes a minister – they tell me about an ordinary Christian living an extraordinary life, “I remember he loved me,I remember she loved me, and God …”

They tell me about you, about a substitute Youth Group leader like Mr. McEwen! I thought you would want to know that. They tell me about you …