christs love on Receiving Love

Loving Father, we often come to you to get the most from you.  You remain incredibly generous, even though we neglect the greatest gift you give – yourself. Forgive us for ignoring you. Help us to enj...

Do you really accept the message that God is head over heels in love with you?

All-loving God, we confess our motivations are often not influenced by your love. We act according to what will bring us the best outcome. We love ourselves before we love you. Help us to grow deeper ...

The strong bond that unites the vine and the branches has to do with the sap that flows through them. Jesus does not here use the word “sap,” but nonetheless gives a lengthy excursus on love in a way ...

Too many of us try to live so that he will love us, rather than living because he has already loved us.

Gracious God, we come before you with humility, recognizing that doubt has led our decisions. We have allowed fear to lead, rather than love. Because of this, we have been unkind to our families, ou...

Loving Father, we often come to you to get the most from you. You remain incredibly generous, yet we have neglected the greatest gift you give – yourself. Forgive us for ignoring you. Help us to enjo...

Gracious God, through the forgiveness of Christ you hold nothing against us. In our pride, we have withheld forgiveness from others. In fear, we have chosen distance rather than relationship. Yet you ...

Holy Spirit, open our minds to the truth that hurts and the truth that heals. Open our hearts to the love that challenges and the love that embraces. Amen.

Pastor: We who have been given new birth into a living hope, are sent now into the world, People: to look, live and love more like Jesus.  Pastor: Go in peace to serve the Lord! People: Thanks be t...

Pastor: O Lord, in these Lenten days set our minds on Your things rather than the things of man, that we may listen for Your call and walk in Your ways. Lord, in Your mercy, People: hear o...

It takes a great deal of freedom and love to be therapeutic with a group. Many years ago when Emil Brunner, the great Swiss theologian, was lecturing in this country, it was reported that when he prea...

Leader: As Christ’s Church here on earth, we are invited to be a part of a bigger story, welcomed as members of a larger community, and called to a greater mission.  In humble repentance we must ack...

Pastor: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. People: But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us ...

Pastor: Lord of all, the demands of Your righteousness are too hard for us to fulfill alone, People: so we use this excuse to ignore Your law. Pastor: You forgive our iniquity and remember our sin...

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwel...

Pastor: The very stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Come now to Christ, that living stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious.  People: Whoever believes in hi...

Love is good, having wings of burning fire that flies through the saints’ breasts and hearts and consumes whatever is material and earthly but tests whatever is pure. With its fire, love makes whateve...

Hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you...

May we know the patient love of God, who remains faithful to us when our faith is dry.

Romantic love is blind to everything except what is lovable and lovely. But Christ's love sees us with terrible clarity and sees us whole. Christ's love so wishes our joy that it is ruthless a...

Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.

God sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, with a special song to sing for others, with a special act of love to bestow.

"Maundy" What? Maundy Thursday takes its name from the Latin version of John 13:34: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are ...

The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.

Merciful God, you have given us the gift of life. We confess the uncaring ways we have treated others. We have been impatient with those growing old. We have been inattentive to the curiosities of the...

Introduction Only John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus washed his disciple’s feet during his last meal with them. The other texts for this day remember the Passover and the context it sets for Jesus’s w...

Pastor: Created by the Father, redeemed by the Son and strengthened by the Spirit, go now to share love of Jesus, so that all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.  Psalm 98:3   ...

Pastor: God not only provides us with armor to stand against the devil’s schemes, but once fitted for battle, He tells us to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests ...

Gracious God, we come before you with humility, recognizing that doubt has led our decisions. We have allowed fear to lead, rather than love. Because of this, we have been unkind to our families, our ...