. . . the fruit of the Spirit is
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
and self-control.
There is no law (Jewish Law) against such things.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." 

This is the first commandment.

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

There is no other commandment greater than these.

Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue;

and to virtue knowledge;

and to knowledge temperance;

and to temperance patience;

and to patience godliness;

and to godliness brotherly kindness;

and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

living water

I am made in the image of God, not your image of God.

The word, gospel, means good news.

Then Jesus came amongst thema nd said, today its been fullfilled in your hearing that you might have good news.

Good News!

Wouldn't it be great if every church across the world this day preached Good News: good news of God's Love; good news of God's Grace; good news of God fulfilling history not only in the life of Jesus, but the life of those who come to follow Jesus today: good news that would lift up the broken hearted; good news that would lift up the poor; good news that would lift up the oppressed; good news that would lift up you and I who are fearful to wallk into churches today.

And that's another cool thing our Senior Pastor told us.

PROGRAM LISTINGS & PROGRAM SCHEDULES

"A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don't function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick." Brene Brown. Love is tough stuff.

Love, romance and relationship are not the same. We uncovered as much during this ongoing exploration of the authentic nature of true love. A central motif of these three - love, romance and relationship - is belonging. In our quest for valued connection and re-connection, inability to grasp or be cognizant of the essential contributions of each of these to wellbeing and to communal bonding negatively impact the experience of belonging. A productive joy comes from embracing what each authentically brings to the table of whole-hearted living. Love, romance and relationship are not the same and do not do all of the same things. We are exploring love - an incredibly powerful transformative force - without which humans are incapacitated; we break; we fall apart; we numb; we ache; we hurt others; we get sick. Love is tough stuff. It heals. It rebuilds. It creates and re-creates.

Love ALWAYS perseveres

LOVE ENDURES ALL THINGS

Love is tough stuff. It endures. M-hm. It does not break; it bonds. It does not bind; it sets us free. M-hm. Love is tough stuff. It lifts us out and builds us up. Love is tenacious. It is strong. Love endures all things. What is endurance? Like kindness, like patience, it is a doing-kind-of-thing. You can't fake it! You can't store it. It requires usage. It demands practice. Let's tickle our memories with a mere physical example of the work required for endurance. M-hm!

Someone out there is probably smarter than you. Someone out there is probably stronger than you. Someone out there is probably faster than you. Or soon will be! Agreed? So!!! No? Hmm? Okay. Be still. Listen. That is stronger, faster, smarter knocking at your door! Ever more loudly!! Who is that?

Knock-knock-knock. Zap! Lousy timing. Naked. Mirrors everywhere! Your eyes are open. No blindspot! Knock-knock-knock! You catch a glimpse of you. Every bit revealed. Every unflipped bit! No fig leaf! That incessant knocking! Knock-knock! Knock-Knock! Knock-Knock! Like thunder. Like lightening. Mirrors reflecting mirrors. Everywhere. You seeing you. Me seeing me. The knocking does not cease! Like thunder. Like lightening. Be still. Listen.

Hmmm?

Being fully functional and wholly human!

Love ALWAYS perseveres.

"Love is an active, accountable, responsible 'being' that makes decisions reflective of its authentic self."

Take love away and earth is a tomb; to the walking dead a house of pain where posture masquerades as strength, bombast as courage, and evil as will, which also is tenacious - fighting to sustain its existence! In such a world, its everlasting promise is doom. By what measure or intelligence or experience comes such a tragic claim? Hmm?

Love perseveres.
Love endures all things.

Evil's only remedy for evil is evil - no matter where it rears its head. Evil is evil's mastery. That is its entire being and will and intent - no matter how benign its trickery. Nothing that ever was has proven evil to be anything different. Nothing! By what measure or intelligence or experience comes such a firm claim? Hmm?

What happens when love meets pain? This is that encounter with emotional pain, intellectual pain, mental pain - pain of the mind. What sometimes happens when love meets this strain of pain? Fear! Pain is prepared for battle. Love is just another enemy it wants to bully and belittle. That is what fear knows. Survival mode. But Love is too equipped. Stronger! Faster! Smarter! Unlocked door. Naked. Pain! Fear. Fear rips the heart out. It does not have to be so! Love perseveres. By what measure or intelligence or experience comes such an indisputable claim? Hmm?

God is love!
There is none greater, poo!

The opening question of this episode's discourse - what is love - is now exposed. It is a trick question. It is a misguided question. It is a misleading question. It is an innocent question. The real question, the bold question, the revealing question is: who is love?

Love is a being!

Its true character is not hidden, cannot be hidden, has no interest in being hidden, we have found. Love is alive, a super-power in action. Love is a 'being' always being.

Who is love?

I marvel when I face the ensuing questions. Love: who is created in that image? Love: who is gifted with that power? Love: who enjoys that confidence? Love: who can separate us? I marvel.

Here is what we have discovered from the historical records. It is The Liar that promotes love as weak! It is The Thief that proclaims love to be cheap. It is The Deceiver that builds hate-filled armies offering its minions a payment it cannot afford - belonging!

Here is what we have discovered in the archive of fools. The Liar, The Deciever, The Thief - they are not strong; they are tenacious; they are destructive; they are deadly; they are protectors of the tomb. Their God is a destroyer!!! Hell reigns in their company! They eat-up that stuff. It pumps them up! Their intensity reels the fearful in, engulfs these in smoke, stirs confusion, manipulates the simpleton's reality, trifles them with bags of shiny coins, and scares them loose from any path to TRUE LOVE (the authentic nature of being). For, love is tough stuff! What The Liar, The Deciever and The Thief have is sticky stuff. The got stuck stuff! But this does not have to be how the story ends.

Love endures all things.
Scary?

Who dares be Love?

On a human level, from a position of frailty, from the experience of oppression, whether an oppressor or the oppressed, a love that endures all things must be a vulnerable love - unshielded, open, exposed, attackable! Hmmm? Who is keen on being that attacker?

On a human level, from the need to belong, from a desire for strong connection, from a want to love and be loved, this love that endures all things must be a fearless love - unbowed, committed, reliable, courageous, daring! Hmmm? Who is keen on being its lover?

This love; it does not quit!
Who is This?

Eyes opened! Some of us have discovered this love to be a love that embues us frail humans with the courage, the confidence, the permission, the power, the freedom, to be all we can be, without reserve, against all odds. And there are odds! From every angle! At every quarter! Envy. Anger. Greed. Pride. Laziness. Gluttony. Lust. It appears from all around overwhelmingly evident that we cannot be all we want to be and can be by hiding from the enemy. You and I have seen what the enemy offers. Fear! And that's not going anywhere; it has no other place to go; it will always be there! We must needs go through it. Fear thrives on ignorance! It is a cat trapped!! But we know love. It is a being!

Love, baby. Love. This thing is huge.

So how does one move from where one is to there - that 'good' place one wants to get to? Well, it depends! But always, it requires personal action. Much depends on where you are.

Here is an awesome option; gets you a running start. "Riding Moby Dick!" You can read it: click here for a digital version; click here for a traditional version; click here for an Audible audiobook version; click here for an iTunes version.

This, after all, is your life; only you can live it. From my advantage, where my life is the only life I have to live, what I see is this: love always perseveres. M-hm!

What are you seeing?

(Share!)

This is love, baby. Love.

"Knowledge that takes you not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance." Elif Shafak.

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Something To Consider

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You are

What POWER!