“… God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” – 1 John 4:16
The youngest of church groups, the Messengers, had it for their motto: God is love.
You see it on gifts for babies sometimes, God is love.
And it fits nicely on a coffee mug too. God is love.
It is possibly the best sound byte in the Bible and it appears here in this Meditation on Love in 1 John. It is offered to a community on the edge of anxiety and suffering from violent attacks because of their faith.
God is love and abiding in this love is so much more than sentiment or abstract feeling. This Love is a force. It is an energy. It is the ground of possibility. It is the intimacy of God hidden in plain sight. This is Love that makes things whole. This is Love that endures and never lets go.
A creating God makes the world, loves the world, and sustains the world. The things we see with our eyes and love in our hearts aren’t just objects created out of God’s Love, they are God’s essence all around. God is Love.
A creating God reveals Jesus the Lover and in him aspects of divine love become real in new ways. Through deepening consciousness (abiding) we learn to stand up to anxiety and take up our part in transforming violence and suffering. God is Lover.
A creating God bears the world. We in our human form join in the spiritual journey, sharing the mystery of lovemaking in the world. God is loving.
God is Love, Lover, and Loving tumbling about in this world so loved. More than a motto, more than a sentiment, more than a saying, Love is the binding force of goodness and mercy working tirelessly to birth new life and hope.
