Two years ago today our faith community lost Liam Lowe, one of our most courageous and compassionate members, after his 14-month battle with leukemia.
If you read here at the page you might have noticed a link above to Liam's Wells, Liam's ongoing effort to help dig wells in Third World villages who lack clean water sources. It's just one example of how Liam constantly thought of others even in the midst of his own struggles.
Last year when I wrote about Liam many of you generously donated to Liam's Wells.
Liam was incredibly creative and a wonderful artist. After his passing Liam's artwork was displayed in a show at the Abilene Center for Contemporary Arts which was covered in this article in the Abilene Reporter News.
Matt and Amy, Liam's parents, asked me to preside over Liam's graveside service. I felt overwhelmed and overmatched in trying to help in that way. I couldn't think of anything to say. All I could think of was how much love there was in Liam. And how much love there was for Liam in Matt, Amy, and Liam's beautiful sister Mary. And so I read 1 Corinthians 13. An unusual selection for a memorial service, but the passage in the bible that I felt best captured the heart and life of Liam.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others,
I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophecy,
and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge,
and if I had such faith that I could move mountains,
but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.
If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body,
I could boast about it;
but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way.
It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices in the truth.
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful,
and endures through every circumstance.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge
will become useless.
But love will last forever.
Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete,
and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture.
But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror,
but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
All that we know now is partial and incomplete,
but then we will know everything completely, just as God now knows us completely.
Three things will last forever
—faith, hope, and love—
and the greatest of these is love.
I corinthians 13 and the precious heart and life of Liam Lowe go hand in hand. Love and the legacy of Leam Lowe will last forever. Thank you for this poignant reminder.
Wonderful arrangement of I Corinthians 13. Where does it come from? I'd like to borrow it and give proper credit.
Thanks--for this and all your writing.
Brad
It's the NLT translation. I just broke the lines up for it to be more like verse.
Several times in the past few years, people have asked me to use this passage at a funeral or memorial service. The more often I've done it, the more I've come to appreciate just how appropriate this meditation on love is at such a time -- much more so than at a wedding service. This, after all, is the love of the community of followers of Jesus for one another, which echoes the passionate love God has for the world. And, truth be told, there are people who exemplify this kind of love in their lives. Thanks be to God.