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Hundreds of people enjoyed the music of The Catalinas at the Carolina Strawberry Festival’s Garden Gala at The Gardens of Southeastern North Carolina. Late in their set, the band invited everyone to “join hands, start a love train.” Soon a line of folks was weaving through the crowd.
A week later, as the Carolina Strawberry Festival was winding down to the music of Rivermist, the lead singer said, “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, black or white or any other color. Let’s see how many people can make a love train!” Young and old, black and white, large and small, men and women formed a love train that wound through the celebratory crowd.
Released in 1972 by The O’Jays, “Love Train” reached #1 on the R&B Singles and Billboard Hot 100 charts. Eddie Levert, a singer for The O’Jays, said, “’Love Train’ felt like destiny. It had such perfect, timeless lyrics that it was almost as if they’d come from God, and we had to deliver them to the people.”
In a sense, we could say those “perfect, timeless lyrics” did come from God. The apostle Paul writes in Galatians 5:14, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus taught there is no other commandment greater than to love the Lord your God with your whole being and to love your neighbor as yourself.
In the Gospel of John, we read that after Jesus had washed his disciples’ feet, he said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
There is a story about the apostle John who, when he was very old, was carried into worship by his followers. Every week John would preach very simply to the congregation, “Little children, love one another.” After hearing the same message so many times, John’s disciples asked him, “Master, why do you always say this?” John replied, “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.”
Some people will say that such a message of love is naive at best, even foolish in our world. But, as hard as it is sometimes to love one another, isn’t it worth our best efforts?
A recent Facebook post said that some 4–8-year-olds were asked, “What does love mean?” Their answers were eye-opening. Jessica, age 8, said, “You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.”
Nikka, age 6, said, “If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.”
Walter Williams, another singer for The O’Jays, said, “The timeless message of ‘Love Train’ is that if we pull together, we can make things better for everyone.”
Just imagine what our communities could be like if we truly joined hands and started a love train.
Philip Gladden is a retired Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
minister who lives in Wallace, NC.
He can be reached at gladdenphilip620@gmail.com.
