I believe that the heart of Christian faith and practice is love.
This is embodied in the decision of God our Creator,
seeing our sin and how it separated us from a full and robust relationship with God,
to take on flesh in the body of Jesus, the Christ,
putting on not just the form but the full reality of humanity,
sharing in our joy, our pain, and even our death.
In choosing to participate in death,
God removed our final separation from God
and freed us from concerns of our own salvation,
which we could never hope to obtain by ourselves.
God freed us to live in the same love,
presenting itself as awareness and compassion
aided by the Spirit of God,
which acts as our constant companion and guide.
We are meant to recognize the inherent worth of each part of creation as God recognizes it
and act in accordance with that understanding,
taking into account circumstances as best we can
to create equity
and help each part of creation thrive.
We are given this purpose
knowing full well that our own human nature and limited understanding will never allow us to accomplish it completely;
and when we and others around us fail,
we are called to react in love,
accepting each other as loved by God and therefore deserving of our love,
complete with our gifts and faults,
and offering forgiveness for what has been done
as we have been forgiven.
So may it be.