Dear friends of BCUC, If its true that love makes the world go around and all you need is love, then why does is seem like:Love is simple and complicated.Love is easy and hard.Love is beautiful and ugly.Love is life-giving and exhausting. Love is limitless and yet has boundaries.Today is Valentine's Day, often a time when red roses, and teddy bears holding heart-shaped chocolate boxes cost way too much and are exchanged in the hope of romantic love. We all know that love is far deeper than romantic feelings and sips of champagne over candlelight dinners. At BCUC we are unpacking what having a value of “learning love” might mean for us. The thoughts above remind us how much there is to learn. Can you love too much? Are you an expert in loving others? Where can we go to learn more?When it comes to trying to understand love, we don’t need to use Wikipedia, poetry, or AI. I think we can spend a lifetime reflecting and meditating on the deep truths found in scripture. Not least of which those found in 1 John.It’s like a love letter to the church.Take a moment to reflect on these words: 1 John 3:7-12 (NLT)"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."If God is love, and we want to grow in our value of learning love, then it makes sense that we must grow in our knowledge of God. Today you may not receive a Valentine's Day card from a secret admirer, but let me remind you of this wonderful truth: God loves you completely, right now, just as you are. So very deeply. More than we can ever comprehend. Could that be enough?I look forward to sharing worship with you this Sunday.Your brother in Christ Benji
