Lived in Love

Sunday, May 3, 2026

Bishop Tim Wolfe

LGBTQIA+ Person of Faith

Quotes

“Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us, and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

~Ephesians 5:1-2 (CEB)

“The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.”

~St. Gregory the Great

Devotion

Those quotes are a sermon all by themselves. Love is much more than an emotion. It is the thing that prods us to extend ourselves to others, to make thoughtful sacrifices without a second thought. It cannot be passive, nor can it be held in reserve.

Wherever love goes, love flows.

As Paul suggests to the Ephesians, love is the key to becoming more like our Maker. Thus, love becomes the litmus test for holiness in our lives. If the things we cherish lead to loving attitudes and behaviors, they are godly. If our thoughts and opinions move us to put love into action, then they are just. If what we cling to plants seeds of bitterness, resentment, and disgust—even when such emotions have logical roots—our lives become choked with weeds of hatred. It’s nowhere to live, because love has no room to grow.

St. Paul and St. Gregory set high standards for love. Paul defines it by its epitome: the love of Christ, which reached its height in Jesus’s final breath. Gregory says love “works great things.” This is not the sort of love that settles for roses and chocolates. It’s more than kindness and generosity. This is gutsy love—sweaty love, the sort of love that cares more about what it can accomplish than what it demands.

The fragrance Paul describes isn’t the Valentine’s Day smell of flowers and potpourri. It’s the pungent scent that rises from a sacrificial altar, a sweetness comingled with the stench of charred flesh and death. It is an odor that is pleasing to God, but rarely pleasant to us. So real love’s purpose isn’t focused on making us happy. Its spurs self-sacrifice that creates change. It is the love of God displayed in human ways on a human scale that nonetheless reflects God’s epic patience, compassion, and forgiveness. It is decisive and courageous; all-inclusive and farsighted; willing to endure pain and turmoil in its tenacious pursuit of something greater than what presently exists.

While true love doesn’t seek happiness, it miraculously makes those who truly love truly happy. They don’t need rose-colored glasses to see God’s love at work, because they live in love. Lived-in love activates a life of rich experience. It turns every thought and deed into an act of worship that pleases God.

St. Gregory understood this. He devoted his life to reforms that stressed the nature of God’s love and was hailed as “the Father of Christian Worship.” He lent his name to the matchless Gregorian chant that captures the soul of sacredness. That’s why musicians and singers look to him as their patron saint.

To live in love is serious work. But despite its toil, it inevitably fills us with song. So, chant, sing, dance—but most of all, live in love.

Reflection

1.    Where has love become a test of your holiness or dedication?

2.    How can you live in love? What would it mean for your love to be lived-in?

Action

Take a moment this week to love just for the sake of loving. Tell someone you love them. Do a small act of kindness.