Letter from the Bishop of Worcester

TheChristian faith is essentially about love because God is love.

AtChristmas we celebrate Gods love for us in coming to share our human life inthe person of Jesus. At Easter we celebrate the depths of that love in dyingfor us, and its triumph over death itself in the resurrection. At Pentecost we celebratethe coming of the Holy Spirit, power from on high, to enable us to love asGod has loved us.

Itsas simple as that, really. The problem in case you hadnt noticed is thatwe dont manage to love as God loves us. As we celebrate the Advent of thePrince of Peace this Christmas, the world is filled with conflict. One hundredyears after the ending what was referred to at the time as the war to end allwars there is still so much violence, bloodshed and oppression in the world.

Whyis that? I suggest that the main reason we do not love as we ought is that wecannot, deep down, believed that we are loved or even loveable. Most of oursinfulness in Christian terminology derives from an insecurity, a deepdis-ease within.

Eversince I became as Christian I have believed that I am unconditionally loved in my head. The trouble is I couldnt quite believe in my heart that anyone,let alone I, could be unconditionally loved. Until I became a parent, that is.I then felt an extraordinarily powerful and quite unconditional love for mychildren, and still do. I spoke to my daughter about this the other day and shefeels the same about her two year-old-daughter.

NowI can believe that God loves me unconditionally with my heart as well as myhead. I have a long way to go but it has made me more loving.

Myprayer this Christmas is that, whether or not we are parents, we shall be givengrace to believe with all our heart that God loves us more than we can possiblyimagine with a love that is stronger than death and which will stretch into alleternity. Then we might be able better to love as God loves us.

+John