Love 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. – 1 Corinthians 13:8

Today's Scripture Reading (April 5, 2024): 1 Corinthians 13

I am fascinated by the concept that love never fails, but maybe we need to add the word true or real love never fails. Because most of us have watched human love fail. Which is why we need to celebrate true love wherever we find it.

I have been a big fan of the rock band Queen since my teenage years. And while I like their music, I am also captivated by their story. Most of us knew that Freddie Mercury was sick long before anyone from the band admitted he was ill. Rumors about his health were swarming around the band for years. But Freddie never mentioned it publicly. All he wanted to do was to continue to make music. In 1986, Mercury sat down with his bandmates and had a conversation with them. "I'm sick, you know I am sick, and you know the cause. And that's all I want to say about it. I just want to make music. In 1988, the world witnessed Freddie's last performance.

In my humble opinion, the beauty of Queen was that they were made up of four very different musicians and people. All four wrote songs that were very different. Their personalities were distinct. In most bands, that is the reason for the eventual break-up of the band. They get to the point where they don't understand or just can't stand each other. But while Queen wrote about their search for love, they had actually found it in each other. When asked about what the band knew and when they knew about Freddie's illness, Brian May, the guitarist for the band, admits that the other members of Queen lied. People would come up and say, "Freddie is looking awful thin," and they would laugh and respond, "No, Freddie's great. He's full energy and creating like a madman." That last part was right. Even after Freddie could no longer perform, the band still made music. Freddie was still the creative drive behind the band and what they did. The band released "Innuendo" in 1991. Brian May says now, listening back to the music from the project, it was evident that they all knew they didn't have much time left. On November 23, 1991, Freddie released a statement to the press. "Yes, I have AIDS." Within 24 hours, Freddie Mercury was dead. Freddie Mercury died from Bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS.

And after Freddie died, things just weren't the same. Bassist John Deacon lost interest in music. Deacon performed a couple of times and then retired with his wife, Veronica Tetzlaff. Guitarist Brian May and Drummer Roger Taylor continue to perform as Queen with a rotating carousel of singers and bassists, but Mercury and Deacon are never far from their minds. They had found a love for each other that defeated all of their differences and all of their rights. Something that a lot of bands are simply unable to do.

And yet, what Queen seems to have stumbled upon and worked through in their band is exactly what we are commanded to do. Love with a love that never fails. Faith is important, but love beats faith every time. Here is the truth. Love, a love that is present through division, a love that welcomes the stranger and is extended to those who are not like us, is inseparable from God. If you do not love with this kind of unconditional love, then you do not know God. And if you are still struggling with that idea, something beautiful happens when we are willing to replace love with God in Paul's Love Chapter.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have God, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If 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 do not have God, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have God, I gain nothing.

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, he always trusts, he always hopes, and he always perseveres.

God 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When 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 the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a 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.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and God. But the greatest of these is God (1 Corinthians 12:31b - 13:13).

And without that kind of love, nothing in this world is truly worthwhile.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 14