Eat, Pray, Love…Work
A Labor Day Worship Experience
- Work – you can’t live with it; you can’t live without it. Funny how we take a day off work to celebrate…work! Happy Labor Day!
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Go around the room talking about the work that each of you are doing – or, if currently unemployed or retired – have done. Talk about what you liked and what you didn’t like about your job.
- Take a moment to pray prayers of thanksgiving for the jobs that you have had or have currently and the blessings they have brought. Have as many pray as wish to.
- Then accept job/work-related prayer requests. And take the next few minutes to spend time praying for each other’s requests. Keep in mind those who are currently unemployed due to the economy – and pray for God to supply those needs.
- READ: Background of Labor Day (from Wikipedia): The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City.[1] In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[2] Cleveland was also concerned that aligning an American labor holiday with existing international May Day celebrations would stir up negative emotions linked to the Haymarket Affair.[3] By the 20th century, all 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.
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DISCUSS: What do you think Labor Day has to do with our faith? Or – to ask it another way – how does our faith relate to Labor Day and our jobs/calling/career?
- What similarities and differences do you see in these words: job, calling, career?
- Which one do you tend to use in regard to yourself and why?
- Few people refer to their "calling" unless they are in full-time church or mission work. Is that an appropriate limitation? Why or why not?
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READ the following passages related to labor/work and discuss each including its relevance to our lives:
- Genesis 2:1-3
- 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
- Ephesians 4:28
- Colossians 3:22-24
- 1 Thessalonians 5:12-14
- 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
- 2 Timothy 2:20-22
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17
- Hebrews 13:16-17
- James 3:4
- 1 Peter 1:17
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Discuss from these passages and your experience how we can be better employees, employers and co-workers.
- Tell your group what changes you plan in your life.
- Come to worship Sunday to hear a story about a man who learned a hard lesson about work and his boss who was challenged to learn a hard lesson on love?
- Close in prayer for our economy and those struggling with work issues.
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"What if we opened the church (property) to the community?"
I asked this question in a slightly different form ("What if we ‘gave’ our church building back to the community?) a few weeks ago in a worship service as we talked about living out the revolutionary love of Christ. The discussion started then…and continued this last Tuesday evening as some of us met together at the church building and explored the next step in prayerfully discerning God’s will on this topic.
There have been a lot of questions about what we mean when we ask that question, and I usually avoid giving a straight answer because "what we mean" will be discerned as we pray and dialogue together. However, there are a few things that we do NOT mean (just to prevent rumors from spreading):
- We do not mean signing over ownership of the building to someone else.
- We do not mean to remove all signs of our faith from our building (for example – remove the cross from the roof)
- We do not mean simply letting whoever wants to use or rent space in our building do so (we already do this for the community).
So…how can we figure out what we do mean?
We will journey together through a process that we have been talking about in our leadership training in the Council on Ministries – discerning God’s will together. We have started that process already and this blog will be a place to continue the dialogue. I don’t know when that process will end – I trust the Holy Spirit will decide that as we put our trust in God.
First, a review of what happened at Tuesday night’s meeting (8/24/10):
Community center discussion: We started by recognizing 10 steps taken from"Discerning Gods Will Together" by Danny E. Morris and Charles M. Olsen – the book we’ve based our training on. Five were begun Tuesday as follows:
We started with a short introduction finding our common ground and that is: "God’s will. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else." We agreed that this is what we are all seeking together.
FRAMING : Clarifying the issue: We changed a couple of things in the original wording of the question as you can see above. We changed "gave" to "opened" (so we wouldn’t imply that someone else was taking title) and we eliminated the word "building" (to make clear that we are talking about the entire church property…not just the building.) However after leaving the meeting Tuesday night, I began to think that removing "building" creates a misleading question since "the church" is neither the building nor the property, but the community of people. So I re-inserted the term property above just to clarify the intent of the original question. However, it is probably even more intriguing to consider it as it is written without ‘property’ in it, understanding ‘church’ to be the community of St. Mark’s : "What if we opened the church to the community?"
GROUNDING: After "framing" the question to be discerned we explored what the guiding principles for this statement are. In other words, what is it about what we already know that we stand for that can help us make this decision. Our vision statement addresses this: A community of LIFE! groups living in and out God’s revolutionary LOVE! where people are being transformed toward wholeness. This is our guiding principle. But it can also be re-worded into four questions to consider in reference to the main question we are trying to discern:
- Is it relational?
- Is it revolutionary LOVE!?
- Is it transformational?
- Is it holistic?
SHEDDING: Following our "grounding" we spent some time asking, "What needs to die in me in order for God’s gifts and directions to find room in my life?" In other words, how can we become indifferent to all except God’s will? How can we ‘shed’ those things that are our will – that may get in God’s way? We spent some time silently and prayerfully beginning the shedding process, asking God to show each of us what we need to shed. Several shared what they needed to shed in order to be totally open to what God wants to do.
ROOTING: This involves reaching into the riches of our faith to discover what Biblical stories/texts speak to this question. We were divided into small groups to discuss our ideas. Some were…Parable of sower; Acts 2, 4, 5 church sharing with those in need; parable of talents; Luke 7 banquet..invite all; building on solid ground; Malachi 6:10; feeding of 5,000; Jewish leaders persecuting Jesus-curtain between the holy of holys to be torn;Kingdom of God is at hand; Matt.28:19 go and make disciples of all.
LISTENING: Then we asked the question: Who do we need to listen to? God, of course, is the first One to listen to, through Scripture and prayer. We also need to listen to each other in the community of the church. And we need to listen to our surrounding community to discover what needs we might be able to meet by opening the church. (Another group we need to listen to which I failed to mention, but remembered later, is the historical community – our tradition – what is the role of church property in the past history of Christian tradition and what does that mean to us?) Then we began to frame questions from our church community that we need to consider: How do we balance our vision with practicalities? Would we need extra staff? Where would we get the money for the extra costs? What kinds of things would we open to? What about liability? How would we determine priorities? These were just a few of them.
In closing, we decided to let the conversation continue from here on the blog site and we will pick it back up as a "live community" towards the end of September at our next COM meeting. (More details to come)
So let’s continue the journey!! Here are a few things you can do to join the dialogue:
- First, revisit the 5 steps above. If you need to do some shedding before you’re really ready to listen to God’s direction, take some time to do so. Set aside time to be alone with God and ask God that question: "What needs to die in me in order for God’s gifts and directions to find room in my life?" This isn’t easy. But it’s necessary for us to all come to the same place of hearing God’s direction.
- Then spend time listening – to God (through the above Scriptures and prayer), to others at St. Mark’s, to our local community, to our tradition – and try to hear how each speaks to the question we’re trying to discern.
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THEN, after you’ve done the above, we invite you to join the dialogue online through this blog. We are not looking for individual opinions – remember we "shed" them. We are looking for anything related to the above 5 steps. The details and specific issues related to the question will be further explored at our next "live community" gathering. Instead focus your posts on the steps above including posting those things…
- that you think our guiding principles speak to the question
- that you need to shed to make room for God’s work
- that come from Scripture (either the ones above or others you discover) as you hear God speaking through them
- and those questions that you consider important to ask as we continue the dialogue – whether the question comes from God, you, our tradition or our local community.
Let’s seek to prayerfully discern God’s will together in this decision that could significantly change the way we "do" church.
Together…
nate
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What kind of People are we Called to Be?
A Holistic People
Vision:
A community of LIFE! groups
living in and out God’s revolutionary LOVE!
where people are being transformed
toward wholeness.
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Have someone in the group guide the group prayer by naming a type of wholeness then allowing the group to spend 30 seconds considering the health of that aspect of their lives. Then the person will name another type of wholeness and allow 30 seconds for consideration of that until you have completed each of the following types of wholeness:
- Relational
- Physical
- Financial
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Are these different and separate "departments" of our lives? Or are they just different aspects of one whole? Or both? (Discuss)
- Have several tell about a time when one aspect of life affected a different aspect (eg a physical issue affected a spiritual issue OR an emotional issue affected a financial issue)
- What aspects of life do you think Jesus was most interested in? What evidence do you have to support your opinion?
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When you hear someone talking about "salvation" or "being saved" what do you understand that to mean?
- The Greek word for salvation is "soteria" or "sozo." It has many different meanings in the Bible. William Barclay, a New Testament scholar researches the use of the word in the "Septuagint" – the Greek version of the Old Testament which the people in the time of Jesus would have been familiar with. Here is his conclusion: "So, then, the New Testament writers when they used soteria entered into a righ heritage, for already it described the saving, preserving, providential power of God in the crises of history and the crises of the individual life, a care which does not stop with this world, and a care which makes the person who is wrapped round by it sing with joy." p.270 New Testament Words
- Jesus said that "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" John 10:10 This is the gift of salvation - life here and now that goes on forever – even beyond physical death. THIS is salvation – wholeness – being put back together by God so that we have a purpose. Barclay says, "The aim of the Christian message is not to hold a person over the flames of hell but to lift them up to the life of heaven." (and the assumption is that it begins here and now!) p.272 New Testament Words
- Barclay adds: "But if we are to get the full value and the full meaning out of this word, we must ask the question: What is a person saved from? What is the deliverance which soteria promises? Before we begin to esamine the New Testament for this purpose we must note one thing. The verb sozein means both to save a person in the eternal sense and to heal a person in the physical sense. Salvation in the New Testament is "total salvation." It saves a person, body and soul." p.274 New Testament Words
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READ the following Scripture passages out of the book of Matthew. Look for the words "save," "salvation," "whole," "wholeness" – these are translations of the Greek word sozein or sozo.
- Matthew 1:21; 8:25; 9:21; 18:11; 24:22; 27:40; 27:42
- Discuss the differences of the word’s understanding in the different contexts (is it physical, spiritual…?)
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READ Acts 2:42-47 – a description of the early church
- Re-read v42 – Which of the 5 dimensions did the early church devote themselves to in this verse?
- Which ones do you notice in verses 43-47?
- In v47 it says that many were "being saved." What new meanings does that take on for you with a broader understanding of the Bible’s use of the term?
- What is the significance of each of the final two words in the vision: "toward wholeness" in relationship to the salvation? (Discuss)
- Close in prayer asking God to lead us to wholeness by God’s grace!
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What kind of People are we Called to Be?
A Transformational People
Vision:
A community of LIFE! groups
living in and out God’s revolutionary LOVE!
where people are being transformed
toward wholeness.
- Begin with prayer seeking God’s movement to be powerfully active in transforming lives in your group as you focus on God’s word and open yourselves to the power of God.
- Invite everyone to take 2 minutes just to rest in silence and invite God to come and change you.
- Have everyone turn in their Bibles to Ephesians 4:17-32 – a passage that speaks to the transformation God is doing in us.
- Follow these directions and let God speak:
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Lectio Divina (Holy Listening)
Note: While it is helpful to "go around the circle," so everyone can be heard, anyone may “pass” at any time.
Begin with 60 seconds of silence for people to clear their hearts and minds for God to speak. Focus on slowing your breathing and laying each distraction on the altar before God.
Listening for the Voice of Christ the Word
1) Read the passage aloud twice (once at normal speed; a 2nd time by someone else more slowly), as others listen attentivelyfor some segment that is especially meaningful to them.
2) Silence for 1-2 minutes. Each hears and silently repeats a word or phrase that speaks to them.
3) Sharing aloud: Speak out loud the word or phrase that has spoken to you. A simple statement of one or a few words straight from the text. No elaboration.
How Christ the Word Speaks to Me
4) A different person reads the text aloud again.
5) Silence for 2-3 minutes. “Where does the content of this reading touch my life today?”
6) Sharing aloud: “I hear…” or “I see…”
What Christ the Word invites me to be or to do (Transformation)
7) A different person reads the text aloud again.
Silence for 2-3 minutes “I believe that God wants me to … (what and when).”
9) Sharing aloud: At somewhat greater length share the results of your reflection. (Pay special attention to the person on your right as you will be praying for them.)
10)After everyone has had a chance to share, go around the circle and pray for the person on your right. If instead of praying out loud you prefer to pray silently, simply say "I’m praying silently" and conclude your silent prayer with “Amen.”
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What kind of People are we Called to Be?
A people of Revolutionary LOVE!
- Open with a word of prayer asking God to help you do more than learn about love – ask God to fill you with God’s love.
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DISCUSS "love"
- Talk about its different meanings in different contexts. Try to distinguish between the different "kinds" of love.
- Talk about the breadth of the range of meaning we have when we say we "love" someone or something
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The Greek language has at least four different words for some of the multiple meanings of our one word, "love." Read about each one below and discuss the different types. (And yes, I’ve used the ultimate resource: wikipedia!)
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There are several Greek words for love, as the Greek language distinguishes how the word is used. Ancient Greek has four distinct words for love: agápe, éros, philía, and storg?. However, as with other languages, it has been historically difficult to separate the meanings of these words. Nonetheless, the senses in which these words were generally used are given below.
- Agápe (????? agáp?) means "love" in modern day Greek, such as in the term s’agapo (?’?????), which means "I love you". In Ancient Greek, it often refers to a general affection or deeper sense of "true love" rather than the attraction suggested by "eros". Agape is used in the biblical passage known as the "love chapter", 1 Corinthians 13, and is described there and throughout the New Testament as sacrificial love. Agape is also used in ancient texts to denote feelings for a good meal, one’s children, and the feelings for a spouse. It can be described as the feeling of being content or holding one in high regard.
- Éros (???? ér?s) is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. The Modern Greek word "erotas" means "intimate love;" however, eros does not have to be sexual in nature. Eros can be interpreted as a love for someone whom you love more than the philia, love of friendship. It can also apply to dating relationships as well as marriage. Plato refined his own definition: Although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. It should be noted Plato does not talk of physical attraction as a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, "without physical attraction." Plato also said eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, and contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth. Lovers and philosophers are all inspired to seek truth by eros. The most famous ancient work on the subject of eros is Plato’s Symposium, which is a discussion among the students of Socrates on the nature of eros.
- Philia (????? philía) means friendship in modern Greek. It is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by Aristotle. It includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires virtue, equality and familiarity. In ancient texts, philos denoted a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers.
- Storge (?????? storg?) means "affection" in ancient and modern Greek. It is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring. Rarely used in ancient works, and then almost exclusively as a descriptor of relationships within the family. It is also known to express mere acceptance or putting up with situations, as in "loving" the tyrant.
- What are some ways that we can express these differences if we only have the one word for love?
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READ Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus said that all the law could be summarized with love of God and others. Although Jesus spoke Aramaic, the Greek word used in this passage is "agape."
- What difference does that make to our understanding of love?
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READ John 13:35 Would you say that people know the church by our love (agape)?
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READ the following passages and look for the ways in which the early church was a community of "revolutionary love":
- Acts 2:42-47
- Acts 4:32-35
- Acts 5:12-16
- What are some ways that we can live IN God’s revolutionary love?
- What are some ways that we can live OUT God’s revolutionary love?
- What is God calling you and/or your group to do to live out revolutionary love in your lives?
- Close in prayer asking God to fill you with God’s revolutionary LOVE!
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What Kind of People are we Called to Be?
A Relational People
- Begin with a time of prayer asking God to open your eyes and your heart to others.
- What comes to mind when we talk about being relational people?
- What are some positive characteristics of relational people?
- What turns you off about relational people?
- Tell a story about someone who was a positive relational role model for you.
- Talk about what your "ideal church" would look like when it comes to relationships.
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The Vision of St. Mark’s is to be "A community of LIFE! groups living in and out God’s revolutionary love where people are being transformed toward wholeness"
- Talk about where you see "relational" in that vision.
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Following are some texts from the book of Acts – the story of the formation of the Church. The passages selected speak of some of the characteristics of that early community. Read each of the following texts and after someone has read each one discuss the "relational aspects" of that passage:
- Acts 2:42-47
- Acts 4:32-35
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Acts 5:12-16
- As you identify the relational aspects, name which of those you see present and which you see absent in our community at St. Mark’s.
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"Fellowship" is used at places regarding the early church. It’s usually a translation of the Greek word, "koinonia." Read the following excerpt from an online resource:
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What is koinonia?
Question: "What is koinonia?"
Answer: Koinonia is a Greek word that occurs 20 times in the Bible. Koinonia’s primary meaning is “fellowship, sharing in common, communion.” The first occurrence of koinonia is Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Christian fellowship is a key aspect of the Christian life. Believers in Christ are to come together in love, faith, and encouragement. That is the essence of koinonia.
Philippians 2:1-2 declares, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Koinonia is being in agreement with one another, being united in purpose, and serving alongside each other. Our koinonia with each other is based on our common koinonia with Jesus Christ. First John 1:6-7, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
A powerful example of what koinonia should look like can be found in a study of the phrase “one another” in the Bible. Scripture commands us to be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), honor one another (Romans 12:10), live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16; 1 Peter 3:8), accept one another (Romans 15:7), serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32), admonish one another (Colossians 3:16), encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13), spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), offer hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), and love one another (1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11-12). That is what true biblical koinonia should look like.
FROM: http://www.gotquestions.org/faith.html
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- Discuss what aspects our church has of koinonia.
- Discuss what aspects our church does not have of koinonia
- If you have suggestions of ways our church can grow in koinonia, please send your ideas to Pastor Nate at nate@stmarksindialantic.org
- Close in prayer asking God to bless our church with the gift of koinonia – Christ-centered fellowship and relationship.
- Think of something you can do this week that will help build relationships with someone else in the church. Start simple if you need to!
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August Series – What kind of church are we called to be?
This Sunday, I am planning on taking us on a broad sweep overview of "the people of God" through the Bible. Sometimes we look so carefully at the trees that we don’t see the forest. This will be a "big picture" overview of the Bible to help us see the different faces of how God’s people live and act as God’s people throughout Biblical history thus calling us to discover how God has called us to be God’s people in this time and this place.
Because of that, I am simply encouraging you to practice "lectio divina" (outline below) using the text: Luke 12:13-21
Lectio Divina (Holy Listening)
Note: While it is helpful to "go around the circle," so everyone can be heard, anyone may “pass” at any time.
Begin with 60 seconds of silence for people to clear their hearts and minds for God to speak.
Listening for the Voice of Christ the Word
1) Read the passage aloud twice (once at normal speed; a 2nd time by someone else more slowly), as others listen attentivelyfor some segment that is especially meaningful to them.
2) Silence for 1-2 minutes. Each hears and silently repeats a word or phrase that speaks to them.
3) Sharing aloud: Speak out loud the word or phrase that has spoken to you. A simple statement of one or a few words straight from the text. No elaboration.
How Christ the Word Speaks to Me
4) A different person reads the text aloud again.
5) Silence for 2-3 minutes. “Where does the content of this reading touch my life today?”
6) Sharing aloud: “I hear…” or “I see…”
What Christ the Word invites me to be or to do
7) A different person reads the text aloud again.
Silence for 2-3 minutes “I believe that God wants me to … (what and when).”
9) Sharing aloud: At somewhat greater length share the results of your reflection. (Pay special attention to the person on your right as you will be praying for them.)
10)After everyone has had a chance to share, go around the circle and pray for the person on your right. If instead of praying out loud you prefer to pray silently, simply say "I’m praying silently" and conclude your silent prayer with “Amen.”
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Lessons on prayer from the Master
- DON’T begin with prayer – I know – I usually say just the opposite. But today I want you to brainstorm what you know about prayer – get a piece of paper and pen or pencil and spend 5 minutes writing down everything you have learned about prayer to date.
- NOW spend some time in prayer – asking God to “teach us to pray” like the disciples did. Open your hearts to learn from the Spirit, Scripture and each other.
- DISCUSS some of the things that you have learned with your group – what similar learnings do you share? What are some of the differences?
- ATTEMPT a working definition of prayer for the group to use.
- READ Luke 11:1-13
- This teaching on prayer can be divided into 3 main sections which we’ll do in order to better study it:
- SECTION 1 The Lord’s Prayer (vv1-4)
- If you had one question to ask Jesus, what would it be?
- What do you think prompted the disciples to ask Jesus this one? (v1)
- This is Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer – what do you notice is different than the one we pray in church? Any thooughts about why the differences might be there?
- What do you think Jesus may have been trying to teach by this prayer?
- Was it to be a memorized prayer? a model to build on? a sample prayer?
- Notice the different topics of the prayer. Compare and contrast them to the topics that many of us pray about today. What can we learn from the differences? Read More…
Holy No’s: Knowing Whose Business we are About
· Start by opening in prayer and asking God for the wisdom and strength to make Him the priority of our lives.
· Read Luke 2:41-52
· What do you picture in your head when you see the word ‘caravan’?
· It took a while for Jesus’ parents to realize he was missing. Why do you think took so long?
· The story says it took 3 days for them to find Jesus. What do you think was going through the mind of his parents during these 3 days?
· Where all do you think they looked?
· When they finally find Jesus he is in the temple ‘sitting in the midst of the teachers’. When his mother questions him he simply says, “Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” At least one version reads, “Did you not know whose business I must be about.”
· What does Jesus mean by this?
· With so many distractions around us, it is easy to forget whose business we are meant to be about. What are some of those distractions?
· In those times where you take your focus off of God, whose business do you normally focus on instead?
· What are some things we can be doing to help prevent us from taking our sights off God?
· The million dollar question… if we are meant to be about God’s business, what is God’s business?
· Often the answers to the above question focus on the afterlife (Saving souls etc..). Without taking anything away from the importance of that mission, WHAT ELSE does God care about?
· How is St. Marks UMC currently doing at caring about the things that God cares about? (it’s ok to think there’s room for improvement…there always is)
· Where do you fit into that picture? If you’re not sure, what is an area of ‘God’s business’ that you’d like to get more involved with?
· Close with a prayer asking for the wisdom to discern what is God’s business and what is not, and for clarity, that we might know the ways in which God intends to use us.
Holy No’s: Rightly Focused Protest Requires Humility
Start with a word of prayer asking God to open minds and hearts to the idea of humility in our faith journeys.
What does the word humility mean to you?
What are some of the positive and negative connotations that come with the word humility?
What are some examples of humility in Jesus’ life?
Discuss what you know of the following Biblical characters and how humility (or perhaps their lack of it) played out in their lives.
Moses
David
Solomon
Paul
Peter
Who are some modern day examples of people who live(d) with great humility (expect that your list may well be short).
What can we learn from the successes and failures of these stories (both Biblical and modern day)?
The Greek word that gets translated as ‘humble’ simply means to lower. Why is it essential in our faith to keep ourselves low?
In what ways is being humble contrary to what we’re taught in American society?
How do we get in God’s way when we forget to be humble?
What are some of the reasons that humility can be so difficult for us?
The topic for the series is rightly focused protest. Humility is clearly something God calls us too, but why is it an important part of protest? Or in other words…why is humility essential to our ability to stand up for and love others?
What are some of the walls and barriers that prevent us from standing up for others?
What are some areas of your own life that you need to let go of to allow God to be in charge?
Close in prayer asking God for the strength to keep yourself low, for the wisdom to know when pride is getting in the way, and for the kind of love that will allow you to love others in the same way that God has chosen to love you.
