God decided to become human.

Humans just couldn’t seem to get it right.

The Law, the Prophets….none of it seemed to sink in.

Life on earth wasn’t as God had meant it to be.

 

God decided to become human.

An awesome, inspiring human..

And to live among us.

And then, God decided to die.

There we have the tragedy and the beauty of the cross.

The beauty of the baby in the manger and the tragedy of the man on the cross.

You can’t believe in one without believing in the other.

Jesus is God’s response to our yearning…to my yearning…for a better way…for meaning…for The way

We threw our worst at Jesus…

He only responded with love.

Jesus dying on the cross does not make God feel better about us

It’s about us feeling differently toward God

About being open to a love that will not let go

That has no end

Jesus says, “ I am love

I do the hard things”

I love the unlovable

I take care of those that culture says we don’t need to take care of

I don’t tolerate shame

I don’t tolerate attacks

My love is hard, messy, dirty

If you really love you will become dangerous to those who don’t

The Good News is

God is like Jesus

We often think Jesus is like God

Yes, and God is like Jesus

God is love

Jesus is what love looks like

Tragedy and beauty collide on the cross

The greatest despair…the greatest hope.

The greatest violence…the greatest act of love

The hate of the world…the love of God

Jesus’ goal was that we have abundant life

All of the good that comes from being part of the kingdom reign of love….here and now

Jesus says, “ follow me….

What I have done, you MUST DO also”

This is an entirely different agenda…

Follow me is not worship me

God loves us…ALL of us

To the extent that we love others…ALL others…is the extent to which we love God

How far does love go?

Beyond beyond….