The Greatest Gift

Ann Voskamp in her delightful Advent book, The Greatest Gift, says:

"Love is the greatest thing God can give us, for Himself is love," writes 17th Century theologian Jeremy Taylor.  "And [love] is the greatest thing we can give to God, for it will also give ourselves…"

(page 92)

Lacking Love Leads to Sin

"Just as love is the ultimate expression of the law, so lovelessness is the ultimate expression of sin."
(page 60, John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them)

Do you not know enough about love, so you make it up?

Because of Who He is, Not Because of Who We Are

"God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are."
NIV Stewardship Study Bible, page 236

Protect & Touch & Greet

"Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other."
Rainer Maria Rilke

Incapable

Jean Vanier, in her book, Community and Growth, reminds us:  "While we are alone, we could believe we loved everyone.  Now that we are with others, living with them all the time, we realize how incapable we are of loving."  (page 26)

Community as Sign Pointing to Love

"A community is never there just for itself or for its own glory.  It comes from and belongs to something much greater and deeper:  the heart of GOd to bring humanity to fulfillment.  A community is never an end in itself; it is but a sign pointing further and deeper, calling people to love."  Jean Vanier
(from Community and Growth, p. 102)