Book: John

God evaluates us only in terms of our growth to fruitfulness, expressed as Christ-like love, and such fruitfulness comes only from our interrelationship with Christ. God deals with us in whatever way will lead to further growth – sometimes that is gently, sometimes it is harshly, always it is for the same purpose.

The life and death of Jim Stynes give a contemporary picture of what it means to give your life away.

Judgement is not something God angrily inflicts on us, but simply the fulfilment of our own decisions.

As difficult as it is to imagine, God is shockingly present with us in Jesus.

The Spirit is there for us where ever we gather in the one place for that one purpose.

The gratuitous mercy made known in the resurrected Christ requires us to rethink the nature of God all the way back to creation.

Jesus offers himself to the world from a vulnerable place on the margins, and he calls us to trust the Holy Spirit and do likewise.

United with Christ in baptism we cross the threshold from death to life, and in Eucharist we continue to touch the scars which nourish our faith and inspire our worship.

Social labels and divisions keep us parched and thirsting for intimacy and community, but Jesus seeks to break through them and give us the living water of love and acceptance.

We are called to privilege the God of love and liberation over the economic realities of dog-eat-dog capitalism, and prevent that ‘reality’ colonising the truth of love with its divide-and-conquer business plan.

Jesus sends the Holy Spirit as a Defence Counsel to defend us against the demonic accusations that trouble and disempower us.

The glory of Christ’s love is seen when it perseveres with those who shun it, betray it, or abuse it.