Our Failure
The sermon emphasizes the importance of love, forgiveness, and charity in living as children of God.
Mary Wilder Tileston, preaching on the theme of love and wisdom, emphasizes that loving God is essential to understanding the true worth of love, as it is a gift from Him. She highlights the interconnectedness of loving God and loving others, stating that failing to be loving also means failing to be wise. Tileston urges the congregation to seek forgiveness for acts of malice and uncharitableness, and to pray for the spirit of true charity, which is true wisdom. She encourages a mindset of empathy, understanding, and forgiveness towards others, reflecting the love and forgiveness God extends to us as His children.
Text
The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.
1 THESSALONIANS 3:12
IF we love God, we know what loving is,
For love is God's, He sent it to the earth,
Half-human, half-divine, all glorious!--
Half-human, half-divine, but wholly His;
Not loving God, we know not love's true worth,
We taste not the great gift He gave to us.
MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN
LET us see that whenever we have failed to be loving, we have also failed to be wise; that whenever we have been blind to our neighbors' interests, we have also been blind to our own; whenever we have hurt others, we have hurt ourselves still more. Let us, at this blessed Whitsuntide, ask forgiveness of God for all acts of malice and uncharitableness, blindness and hardness of heart; and pray for the spirit of true charity, which alone is true wisdom. And let us come to Holy Communion in charity with each other and with all; determined henceforth to feel for each other, and with each other; to put ourselves in our neighbors' places; to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts, so far as God shall give us that great grace; determined to make allowances for their mistakes and failings; to give and forgive, even as God gives and forgives, for ever; that so we may be indeed the children of our Father in heaven, whose name is Love.
CHARLES KINGSLEY
Sermon Outline
- The Nature of Love
- The Consequences of Unloving Behavior
- The Importance of Forgiveness and Charity
- Ask forgiveness for acts of malice and uncharitableness
- Pray for the spirit of true charity
- Come to Holy Communion in charity with each other and with all
Key Quotes
“For love is God's, He sent it to the earth, Half-human, half-divine, all glorious!” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Whenever we have hurt others, we have hurt ourselves still more.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Determined henceforth to feel for each other, and with each other; to put ourselves in our neighbors' places; to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts, so far as God shall give us that great grace;” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We should ask forgiveness for acts of malice and uncharitableness and pray for the spirit of true charity.
- We should come to Holy Communion in charity with each other and with all.
- We should strive to feel for and with each other, and make allowances for others' mistakes and failings.