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This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, 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. (1 John 4:10-12)

One of the most foundational gifts that God has given to us is his love embodied in Jesus Christ, our Lord. \xa0Just a few verses before this, John goes so far as to say that \u201cGod is love.\u201d

But again, as Pastor Michael said yesterday\u2014God\u2019s love is not given only for our own good. \xa0God\u2019s love does not make us selfish. \xa0It is given so that it might be shared. \xa0Here again are those two movements from yesterday\u2014the vertical and the horizontal. \xa0We receive God\u2019s love vertically, and we share it with others horizontally. \xa0Being a community \u201cTogether, in Faith\u201d embraces both.

Of course, love is an easy word to say. \xa0It is a much harder word to live.

Firstly, we must receive God\u2019s love for us in Christ. \xa0Many of us have a hard time with this. \xa0Many of us hold on to our guilt or an imposter syndrome that continually whispers things into our heart, like: \u201cyou don\u2019t deserve it,\u201d or \u201cif God really knew what you were like, he wouldn\u2019t have anything to do with you.\u201d \xa0 Your own inner voice might whisper something different than that\u2014but most of us are likely familiar with the dialogue.

Of course, the offensive thing about our God\u2014is that he does know what we\u2019re like. \xa0He knows our secrets, our sins, our shortcomings\u2014and yet has loved us anyway. \xa0Picture Jesus in his passion: he faces the spitting, the mocking, the slapping, the betrayal, and the beatings and yet still loves and forgives and dies for these very same people who are crucifying him\u2014these ones who stand in for you and me. \xa0Jesus knew exactly what was in the human heart. \xa0He faced it, received it, and in return offered not judgement, but love. \xa0An unconditional, no-strings-attached, opened-handed offering of love. \xa0

It is so offensive and embarrassing to be offered such a pure form love as this, that they killed Jesus in order to avoid his love. \xa0It was easier to be rid of this confrontation with love\u2019s embodiment, than to humbly and thankfully receive it. \xa0It is no different today. \xa0God\u2019s love is offensive. \xa0

But in order to step forward together, in faith\u2014receiving the love of Christ that loves you exactly where you are\u2014full of all the sins and failures and broken realities that you are\u2014this is the first step. \xa0You must receive his love. \xa0God sees you and knows you\u2014all of you, including your darkest shadows\u2014and yet he loves you still\u2014will you receive it?\xa0

In truth\u2014it takes practice to receive this love. \xa0The way we have been given to practice is by loving one another. \xa0How far dare we go in extending God\u2019s love to the unlovable person? \xa0To the enemy? \xa0To the person who leaves us? \xa0Disagrees with us? \xa0Is different than us? \xa0Despises us? \xa0Sins against us? \xa0Or sins against God? \xa0We can only go as far in loving someone else as we have been able to receive God\u2019s love for ourselves. \xa0If we cannot accept that God loves us despite our faults and failures\u2014we will not be able to love someone else in theirs. \xa0If we cannot accept that God loves us even when we sin\u2014again\u2014in that very same spot as we\u2019ve been stumbling and sinning in for years already\u2014then we\u2019ll not be able to love the sinners around us either. \xa0

But: to the extent that we receive God\u2019s unconditional love for us in Christ, and enact that love of God through our love for others\u2014to just that extent\u2014the love of the invisible God is made visible in us and through our church. \xa0Indeed, in our love for one another, God\u2019s very life is made visible in us. \xa0In just this way\u2014the word still takes on flesh and makes his dwelling among us for the sake of the world. \xa0

To Gather, in Faith, in just this way is the very heart of God. \xa0

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