24 years ago, I took my “first early retirement” from the hospital and university, in order to help start MSI, Medical Services International, a multi-national medical mission, in South West China. As a slogan for our medical mission, we chose the theme, “Love Never Ceases.” This is a 2,000(!) year old theme and headline that we felt summarized very well what we wanted to do.
二十四年前，我首次从我任职的医院和大学提前退休，帮助创立由多国人员组成的“国际医疗服务机构”（MSI），在中国西南从事医疗事工。我们选择“爱是永不止息”作为我们事工的口号。这个存续了2000多年的主题贴切地概括了我们想要做的事。

In fact, the theme “love never ceases,” or “love never fails” is so famous worldwide, that it is can be used for weddings or funerals! You might think that these are 2 very different occasions, but when you read the entire text of this great expression, you can see why it’s so famous, and suitable for many kinds of situations. Let me spell out most of it:
现今世界各地人们对“爱是永不止息”这句话耳熟能详，无论婚礼葬礼上都频频使用。乍一看婚礼葬礼之间绝无相干，但你若仔细读原作中的上下文，你会理解为啥这话广传人世且适用于各种场合。原文是这么说的：

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)
爱是恒久忍耐，又有恩慈；爱是不嫉妒；爱是不自夸，不张狂，不做害羞的事，不求自己的益处，不轻易发怒，不计算人的恶，不喜欢不义，只喜欢真理；凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐。爱是永不止息。

The text is actually taken from a letter written by the famous Jewish scholar Paul, to friends and contacts in Corinth, a Greek city I once briefly and deliberately visited purely because of this great history. Paul is so famous that you can see huge numbers of people and buildings named after him; and undoubtedly, he is the rare author with a multi-billion, multi-language readership! Perfect for our multi-cultural mission, we thought.
原文出自于著名的犹太学者保罗给希腊的哥林多城中的朋友们写的一封信，我曾慕名前往此城参观。保罗是个家喻户晓的人物，很多人很多建筑都以他命名。他的文字被翻译为各种语言，拥有数十亿读者，毫无疑问，他是个屈指可数的大家。我们觉得他的“爱是永不止息”与我们的跨文化事工主旨十分吻合。

You might quickly note that the love which is described in this letter is quite idealistic, and could be taken, at first blush, as simply something poetic that one should aspire to. You might think that it would be too difficult to be as loving as what is described in this text. So why did we choose this “slogan” if it is only something idealistic, and maybe not achievable? In a strange way, however, we actually felt that it was achievable, and certainly it would be something inspirational, and very valuable as a marker of the ethos and goal of our mission.
你或许很快注意到保罗描述的爱是非常理想化的，乍看诗情画意，是一个让人们努力的目标。你或许觉得几乎不可能达到这样的爱。如果真是这样可望而不可及的话，我们为什么要选择以它为口号呢？奇妙的是，我们觉得这是一种可以达到的境界，也能鼓舞人心，对于我们倡导的事工理念非常有益。

In point of fact, we used the text quoted above as a song, mostly in Chinese, but also in English, that the medical mission groups, from 11 countries and regions, going into China, could sing before local hospital staff, and even school students when we were invited to teach in the county schools. It became quite popular, and many times our local host would even sing with us. When we had big banquets, which are common everywhere in China, we were often asked to do something creative, so this became our contribution, being both creative and consistent with what we were doing!
实际上，我们常唱用保罗的这段文字谱成的一首歌，主要是用中文，也有用英文的。我们这些来自11个国家和地区的同工们唱给当地医院的员工听，也唱给邀请我们去教英语的乡村学校的师生听。这歌在当地渐渐流传开来，人们也与我们一起唱。在中国我们常被请去吃饭，一吃饭我们就得出节目，于是这首歌就成了我们的保留节目，既有创意又恰如其分地反映了我们的事工。

Actually, we were sometimes singing this song while some of the local officials were drinking quite heavily, and even getting quite drunk. As they drank more heavily, they got more excited, and the event could become quite loud. Sometimes we also experienced the local custom, where a man would sing a love song which he had personally composed, often right during the banquet, directed to a named lady at the dinner. She would have to get up and instantly compose a new song as response. Quite dramatic to us foreigners, and something we likely could not do! But even the sing-song-sing-song style fit the theme of “love never fails,” so we felt quite at home!
有时在饭局上当地官员举杯小酌，我们则唱歌助兴。酒兴正酣，有人开始喝高，现场越来越热闹。当地还有这样的风俗：一名男子当场为一名在座的女子作情歌并唱给她听，女子得马上起身即兴对歌。这种场合让我们这些外国人有点忐忑，怕万一被对歌，不知该如何应对，不过再一想“爱是永不止息”这首歌还算应景，需要的话我们就以它来凑合对付。

One of the hospital directors liked our song and theme very much, so we had it written up by a local calligrapher, framed it, and gave it to him. Good Chinese calligraphy is treasured as art, and so this was culturally well accepted. He was very pleased to receive it and displayed it prominently in his office. We thought that was really significant, since it was inspirational, and would be good encouragement for everyone. At the time, we knew that many patients felt dissatisfied with their hospital experience, and felt very little love. As we like to say, “a little love goes a long way,” so we hoped we could do our little bit in encouraging all the staff workers. At other times, we would even print up many copies of the text, and give them away to hospital staff, as an extra touch and reminder.
一家医院的院长非常喜欢这首歌和主题，于是我们托当地的书法高手写了一幅装裱起来送给他。在中国好的书法被当作艺术品，所以我们这样做并无不妥。院长非常开心，把它挂在院长办公室显眼处。我们也觉得此举意义重大，因为当时很多病人在医院里有着不愉快的经历，他们几乎没有感受到爱，而这幅书法能鼓舞人心。我们常说，小爱大影响。我们希望以此鼓励医院的员工每天多一点爱。有时我们也把这段文字打印出来，分发给医院员工，当作随时的提醒。

One of the teachers from the local high school stopped by the hospital, to casually chat and visit, which was common, since life was rather informal in the town. He began reading the entire text of the framed slogan “Love never ceases,” in the hospital director’s office. He remarked to me, “aren’t those verses from the very famous book?” When I confirmed it to him, he said that he had read these verses before, and had been very touched by them. Since we had just started working in the town, it was good to know there was someone there who had actuallyknown about these famous verses before, and could identify with them!
人们时常到医院串门闲聊，这在当地司空见惯，因为那儿的生活很随意。有一次一个高中老师仔细读了院长办公室那幅“爱是永不止息”的书法和那段上下文，他问我：“这不是出自那本非常有名的书吗？” 得到确认以后，他说他曾读过这段文字，特别受感动。当时我们初来乍到，很开心得知此地有人曾接触到过这些有名的文字，并且感同身受。

In fact, the reality of why we actually love the slogan so much, was that we ourselves had read about, and personally seen many people who had gone sacrificially to many far-off places in the world, to help serve others, and we had been touched by that kind of love ourselves. One of my Islamic friends, a doctor, actually asked my wife one day, why I was doing all of this mission work: he asked her if I was doing this, so that I could “get into heaven.”
实际上，我们自己也非常喜爱这句话，因为我们自己也读过，甚至亲眼见过很多人放下自己，去到遥远他乡帮助服事他人，我们也为那样舍弃的爱而感动。我的一个信伊斯兰教的朋友，也是一个医生，曾问我太太为啥我去做这些事工，他问我是不是想借这些善工将来进天堂？

In fact, the great Teacher Jesus had an encounter with a man who tried to do just that, to justify his getting into heaven: he tried to do all sorts of good work, to “earn his way into heaven,” but Jesus surprisingly told him, that’s not the way to get into heaven! Even today, this is a surprise to most people with different backgrounds Doing good works doesn’t earn you points for heaven! At least according to the great Teacher.
伟大的教师耶稣曾经遇到这样一个人：他想通过行各样善事，来为自己挣得进天堂的权利。但是让他震惊的是，耶稣说根本不可能凭行善进天堂！哪怕今天也有很多来自不同背景的人觉得不可思议：进天堂，并不是凭善行？！！至少伟大的教师是这么说的！

That might be counterintuitive to many people, but in the simple faith that we have, we really should not try to “bargain our way into heaven,” by trying to do more and more good works. It only really works if the good works are straight out of one’s heart, touched by “the love that never ceases,” so that it isn’t a bargaining chip for heaven. Also, in coming out of one’s heart, that love will really not cease, as others take that love to inspire themselves and others, so the love goes on and on.
在很多人看来这似乎不合常理，但在我们持守的简单的信仰里，我们真不应该试图通过善行而挣得通往天堂的门票。唯有因着那永不止息的爱，而由心生发的善行才算，这样的善行才不是功利的。并且，唯有发自内心的爱才能永不止息，因为这样的爱感染自己和他人传递同样的爱，一环一环，生生不息。

Over a period of the first 10 years of our mission, we were amazed to see 5,000 visits of doctors, nurses and other professionals in MSI serving for several weeks each in Southwest China, from 11 countries and territories; plus 100 or so long- term workers serving for years. A love that goes on and on, never ceasing. These dedicated friends came in the true spirit of God’s love, truly the only “love that never ceases.” A kind of love that is truth in action, where actions speak louder than words.
在我们的医疗事工的前十年，有来自11个国家和地区的医生，护士，和其它专业人员，共5,000人次进入中国西南地区，每次服事几个星期，另外还有100多名长驻那里服事的。这样的爱层层传递，永不止息。这些全心奉献的朋友们就是因着上天的爱，即那独一的“永不止息的爱”，而来传递爱。这种爱就是用实际行动来践行真理，行胜于言。

In the beginning years, since the local officials did not really know us well, there would be an officer “minding” me, as the leader of the teams. At times, I got to be very good friends with the official minder, since he would be with me all the time. Indeed, the minder would see at close up, clearly all the things that we were actually doing all day long. Somehow it reminds me of Paul again, who got in trouble with the Roman authorities, so he was given “government room and board,” plus lots of minders. The story is that he became great friends with the minders, and some (you guessed it!) even joined him in his efforts to share the good news!
最初几年间，当地政府实在是不了解我们要做什么，总会派一个人“陪同”我这个各事工总负责。有时这个“陪同”与我建立深厚友谊，因为他总是跟我形影不离，他能近距离看到我们一天到晚所做的一切。有时也让我想起保罗，当时的罗马政府怕他惹事，就给他“提供吃住”，并派多人“陪同”他。结果有些“陪同者”慢慢成为他的好朋友，有些甚至后来与他志同道合宣扬好消息。

One such minder very frankly told me, that he was indeed very touched by what we did, but because he was given the job of minding us, that we should be very careful to “follow the rules,” so that we would not get him into trouble. Indeed, we were careful to follow all the rules. But, when we were leaving his town to go home, he was all choked up, and did not dare look me in the eye: I could see that he was actually, very touchingly, crying. I will never forget that unusual scene of a crying minder.
我的一个“陪同”曾私下里坦率地告诉我：他所目睹的我们一切所行，让他很感动。但是他的工作是“陪同”我们，所以我们还是小心为上，“遵守纪律”，以免让他吃不了兜着走。事实上我们一直都小心翼翼地“遵守纪律”。当我们临行前与他告别，他哽咽语塞甚至不敢直视我的眼睛：我能看到他其实是在哭，让我震撼。我永远忘不了那一幕：一名“陪同”在哭泣。

The greatest story that has touched our own hearts is that Heaven, or shangtian in Chinese, came into this world to love us, which is a strange and unique message. A message of shangtian who loves us so much, that, instead of the great conquering power of Heaven, he offered himself for us, as a great love sacrifice from Heaven. This Tian-Ai, the essential love of Heaven, through teaching and healing, showed us the truly unselfish love that never ceases. 2 billion people, one third of the world, have been touched directly or indirectly, by this love, and with encouragement, can share this special love to many others, on and on.
最震撼我们心灵的故事是：上天来到世间，只为爱我们的缘故。这是一个多么不可思议多么奇特的信息。这个信息就是：上天如此深爱我们，以致于他没有选择征服世人，而是将自己给我们，以成就他那舍己牺牲的爱。这样的天爱，即从天而来的爱，通过他的教导与医治，彰显了真正无私永不止息的爱。这份爱，已经直接或间接地触摸到，感动到20亿人，即世界人口的三分之一，也感动鼓励他们去与更多的人分享这份爱，绵延不绝。

Footnote: This “love that never ceases” is the kind of love that doesn’t ask for return, and isn’t an exchange of gifts. There is a word for this kind of love, called “agape”(a-ga-pe) love, which is undeserved love, unearned love, love that never ceases. There are many organizations with the word AGAPE in their title, and that is what it means. It never ceases because God never ceases, so his love remains. Forever.
注解：这“永不止息的爱”是那种不求回报的爱，而不是交换礼物。这种爱有一个专属词，叫AGAPE（音：阿嘎佩）, 专指上天对世人的爱，不是配得或挣得的爱，是永不止息的爱。很多机构的名称里都有这个词，就是这个意思。这份爱永不止息，因为上天永远常在，所以他的爱永在，永不止息。

Do you think that is too difficult, too idealistic? Give it a try and see? It works best if you first receive the love from above, from shangdi, tian, since that kind of love is best instilled deeply from the Originator of love Himself……A love that never ceases…..
读到这里，你还觉得这太理想化，很难做到吗？要不要试一试？只有当你先从上头/上天接受到这份爱，你才可能做到，因为这样的爱是从爱的源头深植人心的。。。一份永不止息的爱。。。。