Not long ago I was helping to facilitate a meeting in which some of the most senior directors of a highly influential global organisation were asking how they could help their people to become more human - to interact with colleagues and clients alike in a more natural, open and authentic way. They were looking for pioneering ideas, and so my colleague wondered bravely, aloud, whether they could explore some work together on the subject of love. There was an awkward pause. Followed, by nervous, and then uproarious, laughter. Followed by a swift change of subject.
That was when I realised how much we struggle to find any kind of public expression beyond the arts for this greatest of human themes. But shouldn’t we, to put it bluntly, be able to capitalise positively on love, for the good of us all?
Shouldn’t a client love a product? Shouldn’t employees be able to love their work? Shouldn’t communities of people who are working towards a common goal in business or education, health or even politics be able to demonstrate a love as they go - which, as St Paul puts it so beautifully, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonour others, rejoices with the truth, always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres?
That passage isn’t just for wedding services. Though to be fair, how many of us will struggle even to express to those we love romantically this Valentine’s Day what he or she truly means to us? But there are different kinds of love - and CS Lewis wrote of four: romantic love, love between friends, between family, and then agape, or unconditional love, which Christians believe is a gift from God we can pass on to others.
A friend of mine from Ireland, a business man of great experience and wisdom, finished our call the other day for the first time with the words, “Brian, I love you.” That was a risk! Especially because he knows I’m squeamish about such talk. But it’s true that we share a richness and depth of relationship - just as I do with others - that is best described ultimately in terms of love.
And didn’t St Paul go on to say that if we do anything without love, there really is little point. “If I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
Love matters, and we kind of know it, don’t we? It can thaw even the hardest of hearts. Maybe the gossip at the water-coolers on Monday will focus more on who got Valentine’s cards, or who sneaked off to see Fifty Shades of Grey this weekend. But there will, if we look with fresh eyes, be many glimpses of a greater love in action - and we shouldn’t be afraid to name it.