Love is ....... #messychurch #God

Yesterday at People Prayers and Potatoes Messy Church we explored Love.  

What love is.  

What love feels like. 

Who we are loved by.  

Who we love.  

Why we love.

How we can love more.

We started with these powerful words which so many of us have heard at weddings; words written by Paul to the church in Corinth.  As I read them I was struck by the power and beauty of these definitions of what love is and what it isn't.  It's a challenge to each of us.

But then I read these simple words from 1John "Love comes from God" and I relaxed in the knowledge that if love is all those things, then all those things are given by God to us. They are a gift, they are not a challenge.  They are a truth, not a tick list.

We know what love feels like because we receive it, in abundance to share with others, to pour out to those we love.  In fact we receive love in such huge quantities that we long to share it with others.  We are commanded to love one another, but actually it is something which is almost impossible not to do when we open our hearts to God's love of us.

And how do we know God loves us?
Because He gave His Son, Jesus Christ to the world as a man to live and teach and die for us.

That's a valentine message and a half isn't it.
God gave of himself to us all as a perfect gift of love.

And so we responded to these words, these truths about love in the world.

Through these crafts the families left with full tummys and full hearts telling who they would give the cards and creations to.  Love going out into the world from God, through us to others.