Belonging ... but not without love

We belong to God - and to each other - all together!
But not at any price.
Not without love and justice and grace
Especially not without love.

"What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels? If I did not love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Paul goes on - or if we had all knowledge, or if we gave up our very lives - if we do not do these things with love, they are not worth anything. I hear a primary commandment for our lives together - to love one another. It's not new - it's what we already know. But do we live it? And how?

And what if there is one among us who is not (or at least seems not to be) living in love? Does that mean they cannot belong?

What do you think?

To post your own comment:
- click on "comments" and type in your notes,
- include your name at the bottom
- click the box next to "Comment as:" and select "Anonymous"
- then click on "Post Comment"

You can also reply by email to goodshepherdumc.nb@gmail.com.

Belonging ... Part II

So, if we all belong to God,
then what is our relationship to each other?

Does this mean we belong to each other also?
Or maybe with each other?

And what does it mean for us to belong to/with each other?
Through anything?
In any circumstances?
With no limits?

"Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. ... We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ."
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer in "Life Together")


To post your own comment:
- click on "comments" and type in your notes,
- include your name at the bottom
- click the box next to "Comment as:" and select "Anonymous"
- then click on "Post Comment"

You can also reply by email to goodshepherdumc.nb@gmail.com.

Belonging ...

In Conamara, when someone asks a child who he is, the child is not simply asked for his name. The question is "To whom do you belong?"

Who are you?