This is the Kingdom...
"Love is the expression of the one who loves, not of the one who is loved. Those who think they can love only the people they prefer do not love at all. Love discovers truths about individuals that others cannot see" — Søren Kierkegaard
A quiet morning at the porch. Walking down the street with Jordan to grab some coffee. Some of our homeless friends who hadn't been around for a while came running down the street to say hello. Between them not being around as much and Jordan who had just gotten home from the domestic mission trip, it was a joy filled reunion on the street. The first thing they did? Throw their arms around us and give us huge hugs. So we stood in the middle of the street, talking about life and yelling Merry Christmas over our shoulders as we all wandered our separate ways...
The love of Jesus? Helping with the Lord's Supper at Holy Trinity on Sunday morning. And as people come forward to the table, there is a line that forms. At one point, there was a clearing and one of the cute little kids from VBS saw me, Addy ran up as fast as she could, I knelt down, and she threw her arms around me and gave me a big hug. In the midst of the blessing & telling her that even though she doesn't eat the bread at communion that she is still forgiven & Jesus loves her. She gave me another big hug, said thank you, and ran off. As I stood to give her father bread and a blessing for her little brother. When I asked him--almost rhetorically--if he knew that Jesus loved him, he shook his head up and down as fast as possible saying yes! That's love.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." ~I John 4.7-12
A quiet morning at the porch. Walking down the street with Jordan to grab some coffee. Some of our homeless friends who hadn't been around for a while came running down the street to say hello. Between them not being around as much and Jordan who had just gotten home from the domestic mission trip, it was a joy filled reunion on the street. The first thing they did? Throw their arms around us and give us huge hugs. So we stood in the middle of the street, talking about life and yelling Merry Christmas over our shoulders as we all wandered our separate ways...
The love of Jesus? Helping with the Lord's Supper at Holy Trinity on Sunday morning. And as people come forward to the table, there is a line that forms. At one point, there was a clearing and one of the cute little kids from VBS saw me, Addy ran up as fast as she could, I knelt down, and she threw her arms around me and gave me a big hug. In the midst of the blessing & telling her that even though she doesn't eat the bread at communion that she is still forgiven & Jesus loves her. She gave me another big hug, said thank you, and ran off. As I stood to give her father bread and a blessing for her little brother. When I asked him--almost rhetorically--if he knew that Jesus loved him, he shook his head up and down as fast as possible saying yes! That's love.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." ~I John 4.7-12
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