There are those who believe that the path to God is paved with rules, rituals, and prohibitions. This is a tendency that we see in every religion. But the first disciples of Jesus were challenged by the example of Jesus and by the Spirit to rethink their images and ideas of God. They finally decided that there should be as few conditions or rules as possible between people and God. Basic morality - faith - and love: this is enough and any more comes from the human ego. It is an insight we need to revive for our own time.

What is love? In John's Gospel Jesus commands his followers to love each other. It sounds easy enough until we read further: as I have loved you. Jesus loved us to the end - to the cross. And he goes on to say that the greatest form of love is to lay down one's life for others - just as he was about to do. All of a sudden 'loving one another' doesn't sound so simple! We will probably not be called on to die physically for others (although that is possible) but there are many ways to die. We can die to our own selfishness, convenience, and comfort. We can die to our desire to hold and protect all we have at the expense of others. Most of all we can die to fear. We cannot reason, buy, or manipulate our way to God. It is only by love that we will know God. God is love and, in our innermost and deepest self, we are too.