“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
We love many things. We love certain foods, activities or people. Love is something we feel, and indeed is often dependent on those feelings. But we have turned love into something much smaller than it really is.
The apostle John turns love on its head. He challenges our complacency with a truly amazing verse. The eternal God loves us, and he loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us. God’s love – true love – is sacrificial and active. His love caused him to do something wonderful for us that was very hard for him. We know he loves us because of what he has done for us.
So, as we go into 2026, let us pray that as a church we would be people who love like God loves. Who love by doing what is best for the other. Who love by sacrificing our own preferences for the sake of another. How wonderful it would be if St Mary’s was increasingly seen as a church which shows this God-like sacrificial love to the world. That those around us would come to know our loving God for themselves, and that they would know that they are truly and deeply loved by us, his people, too.