ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
February 10, 2026
Donna and I are in Fort Worth for Ministers’ Week at Brite Divinity School. We gathered at University Christian Church on the campus of TCU for worship last night, and the Rev. Dr. Donyelle McCray was our preacher. She spoke of Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, and specifically the Love Passage (1 Corinthians 13). The words we often hear in weddings begin with the line, “Love is patient…” With some humor, she wondered whether Paul was speaking about the kind of patience we need in traffic or while waiting in line at Chipotle when the folks in front of us are having a hard time choosing their salsa. Or, she asked, “Are we talking about the kind of patience like the earth has with a seed?” That line struck me hard as I have an odd feeling that Paul was talking about the latter. More importantly, he tied love to that kind of long-suffering that refuses to give up or give in. This kind of patience is not lazy or idle. It trusts a God who is celebrating those who have allowed God’s dream to flourish within their minds, while also realizing that there are many whose soil has yet to be tilled to receive the seed of that dream. Don’t get me wrong, we need to make sure our love is helping till the soil of their souls, but it rarely happens overnight. Farmers are patient, yet a good farmer is not lazy and is usually up before dawn because there is work to be done.
Provide me, Merciful God, the kind of patience necessary to bring about a world that is flourishing in your realized dream of love. Amen.
