Love Changes Everything

I want to put two things together. The first is that God is love. There are many ways in which we can describe God, many things that we can say about God but, arguably, the most profound is that statement, drawn most obviously from the first letter of John, that God is love. The second thing is that the church is, or should be, about change. That change may come in all sorts of ways and at all sorts of levels, but the church should be bringing God's transforming power to bear on the world. Having made those two points, I want to put them together and use Michael Ball's song "Love Changes Everything" as a commentary on the resultant mix. "Love, love changes everything Hands and faces, earth and sky Love, love changes everything How you live and how you die Love, can make the summer fly Or a night seem like a lifetime Yes love, love changes everything Now I tremble at your name Nothing in the world will ever be the same Love, love changes everything Days are longer, words mean more Love, love changes everything Pain is deeper than before Love will turn your world around And that world will last forever Yes love, love changes everything Brings you glory, brings you shame Nothing in the world will ever be the same Off into the world we go Planning futures, shaping years Love (comes in) and suddenly all our wisdom disappears Love makes fools of everyone All the rules we made are broken Yes love, love changes everyone Live or perish in its flame Love will never never let you be the same Love will never never let you be the same" If you look in detail at some of the things the song says, and apply them to church, I think you will find a very useful challenge emerging.