Good morning and most blessed Thursday to you.

Earlier in the week I had a song running through my head, and it wouldn't leave. It’s a great song. It's by the band U2, off of the Rattle and hum album. The song title is “Pride: In the Name of Love”.  In the chorus, over and over those words are sung… “In the name of love; In the name of love.” It's a great song. 

That title was really running through my mind… “Pride: In The Name of Love.” And so often pride is that sticky point for us as humans.  In our sin that pride really can take hold. And I'm not talking about about the kind of pride that we feel about a job well done. We certainly can be proud of a job well done, or proud of our child who has taken his first steps, or proud of our spouse who got a a promotion, or proud of a nice meal that we were able to share. There are things that we can be proud of. 

But I'm talking about that pride that is self-serving, self-promoting pride, where we don't want to recognize what someone else has done, because we want credit. Or we don't want to apologize because we're too proud to admit when we are wrong or have done wrong. That's the pride that I'm talking about. 

So often that pride gets stuck in us, and we just find ourselves feeding off of that sinful pride. So to have “Pride In The Name of Love” together and connected, I think it sounds like an oxymoron, right? That we can't be loving and prideful at the same time. 

And then I was thinking about Christ, and what he did in the “name of love”. He really emptied himself of any self-serving pride. 

Philippians 2:5-8

'Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.'

In the Name of Love, Jesus Christ emptied himself of exercising his full right as divine Lord and God. He took the death and the punishment that we deserve for our sin; such as our sin of pridefulness. He let go of his pride and took on our sin.. all “In the Name of Love.” 

As I look about creation at this time, there is new life springing forth.  And it's this hustle and bustle of growth in flowers and trees budding, and the grass starting to grow, and the birds are chirping, and the bugs are starting to come out and fly around. There's so much so much hustle and bustle of life all around. It shows the signs of life, which show us what exactly we're coming to in just a couple of weeks… which is the Easter victory that we have of Christ giving us real life, of giving us the full life that we don't deserve, but that we are given out of his love. In the “Name of Love” God has given us mercy and forgiveness, and called us to be his own as new creatures, hustling and bustling in the glory of who he has created us to be… to let go of our pride, to let go of our sinful selves, our sinful desires, and to cling to who he has created us to be in His image as his body… as the church, to love one another and to go forth sharing that love with one another, letting go of our pride and instead sharing the faith that others can be in the eternal glory and presence of God, sharing in the life that we have as his children. 

It's a good word for us every day, and a good word for us to share with others, that they can know that they are loved, and that Christ let go of his pride in the name of love for them. 

Heavenly Lord, we thank you so much for setting aside the pride that you so rightfully can live in, and that you humbled yourself to be with us, and to take upon yourself the sin that we cannot answer for.  Thank you Lord that in the name of love, you entered into humanity, and you died the death that we cannot die for ourselves…so that we can live the life that we cannot earn for ourselves. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for your unending mercy. Thank you for calling us to be your own here and now, and to be in your eternally in your presence. Lord, you are so good and gracious. Let us go forth today sharing your love with every everyone that we encounter. We ask this in the precious and loving name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have an amazing rest of your week, and I look forward to worshiping our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, with you this Sunday.

God Bless!

Pastor Malinak