Note: This is a description of my second book which will be published in May, 2020.
We’ve made a mess of God’s love! In an over-zealous effort to convince people that they need to become Christian, need to accept Jesus as their personal Savior, need to “get right with the Lord,” or need to be baptized before they can participate fully in the faith community we’ve made something beautiful into a complicated mess. It’s time to untangle the mess by untying five common knots. These knots were formed when we’ve viewed scripture as the literal and infallible Word of God, when we’ve made God’s love dependent on what a person says or does, when we’ve held a narrow understanding of God which limited how God is experienced, when we’ve overemphasized brokenness and disobedience, and when we’ve relied on theological understandings and religious practices that create obstacles to experiencing God’s love. Untying these knots releases the tension that causes pain and heartache for many who have been or are on the receiving end of hurtful messages and manipulative tactics. By untying these knots, we make space for us to experience the fullness of God’s abundant love which expands beyond our understanding to embrace all of creation and every created being.
Having untangled the mess, we’re ready to create a quilt of God’s love. This love is a gift already given to us by God. While God gives you this gift with no strings attached, God doesn’t force it upon you because forced love isn’t love at all. You decide what you do with it. Do you toss it aside unopened, do you put it on a shelf for a rainy day, or do you open it and allow it to make a difference in your life?
Like every giver of gifts who wants the recipient to enjoy the gift they’ve received, God wants you to open the gift and receive its many blessings. Because God’s love is completely a gift to us and for us. No matter what you decide to do with this gift, it will never be taken away from you. There is certainty and abundance in the gift of God’s love because God is the Gift Giver.
The quilt of God’s love is created using the untangled threads which connect the individual pieces together. The first piece of the quilt is the backing made of the underlying nature of God love which is the extravagant, encompassing, and empowering. The quilt covers you with comfort when you feel pain, hope when you face despair, joy when sorrows abound, and peace when the troubles of this world threaten to overwhelm you. Wrapped in the certainty of God’s love you can keep on living, keep on trying, keep on being the you God created you to be.
Other pieces in this quilt are known as acceptance, compassion, inclusion, peace, joy, comfort, strength, hope, interconnectedness, and courage. These attributes and blessings of God’s love are intended to support you on the roller-coaster we call life. They are the basis on which you can thrive in life and grow in love for yourself, others, and for the Holy One who bestows these blessings. Whether you are a person of a particular faith tradition or someone who claims no religious affiliation, these blessings are yours because of the Holy One whose expansive and abundant love embodies you, me, and all of creation.
An additional piece encourages us to live in the blessings of God’s love with intention, humility, and balance. This piece is about embracing paradox, mystery, spiritual practices that nourish you, and embracing yourself and others. Cultivating these habits positively impacts your life and your relationships with the Holy One and each other. Together they strengthen your capacity to enjoy life and the people who share it with you. When you attend to these habits, you experience the fullness of God’s extravagant, encompassing, and empowering love more deeply. This enables you to live a more peaceful life, a life where relationships matter more than accomplishments and uniqueness matters more than conformity.
The binding which holds the quilt together emerges from the untangled knots and consists of these elements: inspiration, unconditional, blessings, expansion, and relationships. These are the foundation on which the love of God is revealed, received, experienced, shared, and lived out. We’re inspired through the love story revealed in our book of faith. God’s gracious love is received as a gift rather than something we earn. It comes as a blessing rather than a condition we must do to appease an angry God. God’s love is widely shared when our understanding of who God is and how God engages in creation is expanded. We experience God’s love in the here and now as we live in relationships with the Holy, ourselves, one another, communities, and creation.
This quilt brings together all of the colors of God’s promises and all of the textures of God’s relationship with you, me, and all of creation. Every thread is essential to the structure and design of this quilt. Wrapped in the certainty of God’s love may the hurtful messages and manipulative tactics which make you feel unlovable and unworthy of God’s love be replaced with messages that assure you of God’s forever acceptance.
Beloved, you can rest in the extravagant, encompassing, and empowering love of God because God adores you. You are loved. You are worthy. God accepts you just as you are. God doesn’t need or require you to do or say anything to prove your love for God because God has already proven God’s own love for you. God didn’t wait for you to become perfect, didn’t wait for you confess your sins or profess your faith before falling in love with you. Instead, God takes the initiative, loves you completely, and blesses you with unconditional and steadfast love that will never fail and never be diminished. May this love, God’s love, enfold you in peace and hope from this day on and forevermore.