God is Love


 

In the midst of all the excitement, all the lights and all the flash, this plain and unadorned evergreen stood out to me one evening as I passed. In a way, it seems to best represent the story of the season. Standing straight, though weathered by time and storm, it reaches down into the earth and stretches up into the sky.
The idea of the incarnation, of God being born a human into our world and into the life we share, is beyond our imagination. It is so complicated that people have argued about it from the beginning. Yet, at its heart, it is about one thing. Love. God’s love for us is so strong that God would stop at nothing to make that love known to us. That love comes in many ways, ultimately in the presence of God with us. With us in all the mess of the world. With us in all the mess of our lives. God is love, and God is with us.
We read in 1 John, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” We can seek to know God in many ways. But the bottom line is simple: we know God when we know that God loves us. We know God when we love in return.
Peace.

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