Intentional and Sacrificial Love - Virtue of Love
A hard look at love. Love is not just emotions. It is a hard decision we make. It is how we look at ourselves and how we look at others. It is deciding what to love and who to love. What do we love about St. Andrew’s? Who do we love in the community? Are there things we need to let go of in order to truly love?
Luke 18:9-14
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Hebrews 12:1-3
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Quotes from the book:
‘in the liberal church, there has been a drift from understanding God as someone we encounter to someone we think about’ p. 64 We spend more time trying to ‘define God’ and less time listening to the whispers of God.
The future God calls us to is ‘already alive – at least in potentiality – and it invites us into a way of living in resonance and alignment with God’s love. This more down at its most powerful is an entry into the heart of God. Here any impetus to power is changed to an impetus to love, even if that love requires self-sacrifice. Here we move from ‘might is right’ to love is right. P.67
Buy the Book for Yourself
Turning Ourselves Inside Out emerges from the Thriving Christian Communities Project started by the authors in 2015, as well as from a Facebook conversation where someone asked, "We always hear about the problems in our churches. When are we going to talk about the good news stories?" This got the authors thinking: How do we learn about what is exciting and what the Holy Spirit is doing? How do we broaden the conversation beyond how sad, afraid, and grumpy we often are as church people?