Increase in love

“May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.”  I Thessalonians 3:12

We all know there are many kinds of love.  We love the sunrise because it inspires hope in us for a new day.  We love our friends because they give us joy, laughter and stay with us through good and hard times.  We love our family members because we have shared memories and our hearts are woven into theirs.  We love our lovers, our pets, and hopefully, ourselves.

All of this ability to love comes from one place – we love because God first loved us, says the writer of I John, in chapter 4 verse 19. God loved us into being and instilled in us the ability to love God, ourselves and others. When humans continually turned away from that love, God sent Jesus to show us God’s love in the flesh. The love shown by Jesus cannot begin to be captured in one sentence this paragraph….that love continues today in those who follow Jesus.

We begin a series in worship on October 20th on What the Bible Says About Love, and see if we can learn ways to turn our hearts from anger and fear to increasing love.We have a big weekend at St. Mark’s! New members join this weekend, we kick off our 2020 stewardship campaign, and will be blessed by Sondra Franks 20/20 Concert at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 20. And, we begin the new sermon series that will take us into the deep love of God and strengthen us to turn hatred into love in the world.

And, of course, we launch worship at our new site, St. Mark’s Dove Mountain, on Sunday, October 20, at 10:00 a.m. at the C-STEM School, 5650 W. Moore Rd, Marana.  Our prayers surround the leaders and helpers as we welcome new people into the love of God at the new site.

What difference would it make today if each of us chose to do one thing to increase love in our world?  Give it a try.  See you in worship on Sunday.

Blessings, Sharon