When the minister asked the congregants to read along with him from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, I thought to myself: Here we go again. Can’t you guys be a little more original?

“This time,” said the pastor, referencing verses that may be familiar to some of you, those about love being patient and kind and so forth, “put yourself in the scripture.”

“Now when you read these words,” said Rev. Dye, “substitute the word ‘I’ for ‘love.’” It took me a few tries to get the hang of it, but when I did it caught me up short. This is different.

As many times as I’ve heard sermons related to these verses—and I’ve listened to quite a few—never had someone suggested this seemingly simple approach. Not in Sunday school, not on retreat, not at the fanciest cathedral I’ve ever visited. “I am patient; I am kind; I am not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. I do not insist on my own way; I am not irritable or resentful; I do not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoice in the truth.”

Of course, simply saying it doesn’t make it so. I was not automatically more patient or oh-so-much kinder than when I woke up that morning. But I was made to stop and think, and invited to evaluate my actions and reactions more carefully as the day progressed. I was led to consider what it means to love one another.

Amy Lyles Wilson