Sunday, January 12th – God is a Vision of Love

Recap from last week – It is vision month. (1) God IS Love (2) If you are God’s child – Then you

have to be about Love (3) Love is the antidote to Fear!

Context

--God is love but do we really believe that

--Our tradition has said that, but we have struggled to look like love – many in this

congregation have experienced harm from Christians who didn’t move from love

--Before I can talk about what we need to look like I want to be clear what God looks like

Key Points

1. God has always been about love

a. Creation was all about God’s love.

b. The scripture is full of reminders of God’s love

2. But we couldn’t truly see God’s love from a distance

a. When God was just talking to us, we never quite got it.

b. We saw God’s power and wrath and focused on that

c. We wanted human bodies to stand in for God and those folks never measured

up

3. Jesus’ life is a tangible vision of God’s love and how we are called to be!

a. Jesus comes to us in the most vulnerable way possible – risking himself –

relinquishing his power to show us how much he loves us

b. Jesus reminds us that he is not about ending the law but fulfilling it – he IS what

the law of love looks like and moves like - unconditional love w/ accountability

c. We received not just sayings but stories because we make meaning through

stories. We needed more than commandments – Our love language is stories

-We see a nation and world that is sick at the heart level

-We need a movement to transform hearts which only happen if we are grounded in love

-But we have to believe that God is love and know it in our bones.

-That comes by spending time w/ God and experiencing community that flows from God.

-During this vision month the challenge is to really see the God of Love! If you don’t truly

see God you can’t be the child of God this moment requires.

Reflection Questions

1. God is Love. Do you believe that? If yes, meditate on a time when that became so real to

you. If not, spend some time reflecting on what is blocking you from really believing that

and reflect on how you might break through to experience God’s love on a deep level?

2. If Jesus’ life is the major story of God’s love, how familiar are you with that story? Which

parts of Jesus’ life and teaching are most impactful for you? Where might you go deeper

in your study to get a vision of God’s love?

3. If seeing God/Jesus’ love is tangibly real for you – begin to think about a time when you

have felt God’s love flowing through you or imagine what it might look like for God’s

love to flow through you in an area where you are struggling.