Let’s tune out all the words and worries we have carried in this morning, and open our hearts, minds, and souls to God’s promise, "I have loved you with an everlasting love."²

The mystical tradition of Christianity teaches the union of God and all that has been created. For the mystics creation is the evidence of God’s unconditional love.

Each element of creation is:

• saturated with Divine love and
• exists in union with God and
• is sacred and of ultimate value.

In baptizing Alexander Betz this morning, a creation of God is welcomed into its extended family, and at the same time refreshes our hearts to the truth that Divine love is unconditional and universal. Alexander is united with God and saturated with God’s love, he is sacred, and most importantly, Alexander IS love.

Four biblical truths that begin with baptism about you and God to take away from this service:

1. Divine love is universal and unconditional,
2. God’s love saturates you with sacredness and value,
3. You are love, and
4. You are in union with the Divine.

How we, and Alexander, are taught the essential nature of God shapes

•How we relate to God and to Christ,
•How we value and relate to ourselves and others, and
•Defines the manner in which we live the Christian life.

Ever so many people have been taught a God of rules and regulations, heaven and hell, guilt and judgment, fear and constriction. For so many, the experience of God and Christ is couched in the language of law, contract, merit, purity, and holiness. People tell me how hard it is to shake off this lopsided image of God, how it marks their lives, and how painfully difficult is their search to experience God, themselves, and others as grace, love, and union.

Do a "flash check" of your feelings:

Sense what happens inside your body, your heart and mind, when you think of a God who measures your worth and allegiance in terms of obedience, rules, and regulations, and relates to you with guilt inducing judgment? <<pause>>

Hang-on to what your body felt and we will return to it at the end of the teaching.

This morning we teach Alexander and ourselves that "God so loved the world…"³ and we are one with the ONE who "loves with an everlasting love."

• proclaims grace and liberation,
• leads to wholeness,
• sets us free to BE love;
• inspires joy and creativity;
• speaks the language of gift, gratitude, and passion; and
• helps us to daily experience union with God.

I Corinthians chapters 12 & 14 are about the gifts of the Spirit –

service, prayer, wisdom,

knowledge, tongues, healing,

discernment, miracles, and faith.

Between these two chapters is one of the most beloved chapters in Scripture, the chapter on love. Chapter 13 must be read in its context because it says that while all the gifts are important,

the definitive gift is love and that
every person is given the gift of BEING love.

1. We claim our spiritual gifts from God.

2. We are transformed:

we experience God as love,

we experience ourselves as beloved of God,

we become love, and our love becomes a form of compassion that holds this truth in every circumstance: "Nothing less than love will do!"

3. We are set free from climbing the endless ladder of rules and rewards!

In union, Divine and human love is:   Slow to loose patience
Seeks to be constructive
Not possessive
Not anxious to impress
Does not cherish inflated ideas of self-importance
Gentle manners
No selfish advantage
Not touchy
Takes no account of evil
No gloating
Glad with all good people when truth prevails
No limit to endurance
No end to its trust, no fading of hope, it outlasts everything
Still stands when all else has fallen.

Silent Meditation: A few moments ago I asked you to sense what happens when your God is a God of rules and regulations, judgment and guilt. In contrast, look beyond the contractual, meritorious, legalistic God ---- Meditate on this question: