Where Love Is There God Is Also

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"What you are doing I cannot do, what I’m doing you cannot do, but together we are doing something beautiful for God, and this is the greatness of God’s love for us.” —Mother Teresa, from Where There Is Love, There Is God In this book, Mother Teresa’s relationship with God and her commitment to those she served—the poorest of the poor—is powerfully explored in her own words. Taken largely from her private lessons to her sisters, published here for the first time, Where There Is Love, There Is God unveils her extraordinary faith in, and surrender to, God’s will. Love is perhaps the word that best summarizes Mother Teresa’s life and message. She sought to be an extension of God’s heart and hands in today’s world. She was called to be a missionary of charity, a carrier of God’s love to each person she met, especially those most in need. Yet she did not think that this was a vocation uniquely hers; she believed each person is in some way called to be a carrier of God’s love. Through the practical and timely advice she offers, Mother Teresa sets us on the path to closer union with God and greater love for our brothers and sisters.

Thou Shalt Not Be Horrible. Imagine for a moment what the world might look like if we as people of faith, morality, and conscience actually aspired to this mantra. What if we were fully burdened to create a world that was more loving and equitable than when we arrived? What if we invited one another to share in wide-open, fearless, spiritual communities truly marked by compassion and interdependence? What if we daily challenged ourselves to live a faith that simply made us better humans? John Pavlovitz explores how we can embody this kinder kind of spirituality where we humbly examine our belief system to understand how it might compel us to act in less-than-loving ways toward others. This simple phrase, "Thou Shalt Not Be Horrible," could help us practice what we preach by creating a world where: spiritual community provides a sense of belonging where all people are received as we are; the most important question we ask of a religious belief is not Is it true? but rather, is it helpful? it is morally impossible to pledge complete allegiance to both Jesus and America simultaneously; the way we treat others is the most tangible and meaningful expression of our belief system. In If God Is Love, Don't Be a Jerk, John Pavlovitz examines the bedrock ideas of our religion: the existence of hell, the utility of prayer, the way we treat LGBTQ people, the value of anger, and other doctrines to help all of us take a good, honest look at how the beliefs we hold can shape our relationships with God and our fellow humans—and to make sure that love has the last, loudest word.

Combines professional insights along with the author's own experience and insights to speculate on how believers can make sense of their Christian faith when confronted with tragedy and suffering.

"God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16). In this famous passage, St. John expresses the heart of the Christian faith and the essence of the Christian image of God. In the same verse, he also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us." In God Is Love, Anthony Kelly, CSSR, takes this phrase as a concise and profound expression and unpacks it for thinking Christians today. He explores seven ideas that are necessarily implied in the love that God is-the Trinitarian terms, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the cross and resurrection as events within the paschal mystery; the church as the revelation of God's love being worked out in history; and finally, the ultimate hope for eternal life and heaven itself.

Searching for a God to Love reaches out to those seeking a new understanding of God--apart from preconception, institutionalized religion, or pre-packaged agenda. Throughout the book, Chris Blake divides the mystery surrounding who God is and reveals the powerful, infinite, and loving relationship God seeks to have with mere mortals. With chapter titles such as "Beyond Mother Nature" and "The World's Greatest Lover," Searching for a God to Love offers a fresh perspective for those seeking a God in whom they can believe.

“God is love is the radical claim of Christianity,” writes Frederick Bauerschmidt at the beginning of this little meditation on the essentials of Christian faith. In a rich yet accessible style reminiscent of C. S. Lewis and G. K. Chesterton, Bauerschmidt breathes life back into that claim, drawing from Scripture, great Christian and non-Christian writers of the past, and his own lived experience to show just how countercultural and subversive Christianity is actually meant to be. Eschewing the abstract and dogmatic in favor of the relational and inviting, he offers something for everyone, from lifelong churchgoers and students of religion to the growing population of “nones” among younger generations who are increasingly seeking spiritual fulfillment outside of institutional Christianity. With further reading suggestions (both scriptural and nonscriptural) at the end of each chapter, The Love That Is God is the perfect starting point of a spiritual journey into deeper relationship with God.