Love Begins Here

Focus Statement

Love begins with God’s gaze:

the One who made us good,

names us beloved,

and frees us to love our neighbors from a well that doesn’t run dry.

Point of Relation

I’ve loved The Doors for years—

since a teenager—

one of my all-time favorite bands.

Very few poets have influenced my poetically or musically like Jim Morrison.

Early on, they embodied a longing to “break on through”—

to pierce illusions and wake up.

Jim Morrison, himself, was a complicated soul,

but he had that restless, visionary longing

for something truer on the other side of the noise.

Most of us know that longing, even if we deny it.

We want to break through shame, performance,

through other people’s expectations

and stand in the light as our real selves.

Things to Consider

Christians sometimes hear “love yourself”

and think self-centeredness.

Scripture shows the opposite:

it’s about receiving the love God already gives.

If we deny that we are fearfully and wonderfully made,

we end up loving others from emptiness.

But when we accept God’s delight in us, love can overflow.

What Scripture Says

Psalm 139 proclaims:

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me…

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

The psalmist isn’t boasting—it’s worship.

God’s knowledge is not surveillance but salvation:

a steady, intimate care that holds us before birth and beyond death.

Jesus echoes this center

when asked about the greatest commandment:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind

and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:30–31).

Notice: neighbor-love and self-love are woven together.

To hate yourself is to wound the vessel God called good.

To love yourself rightly is to stand on the foundation of God’s love

and extend it outward.

In Christ,

love begins in God,

takes root in us,

and pushes past shame, fear, and comparison—

breaking through to the other side of life abundant.

What This Means for You

This week, practice one honest,

gracious sentence to yourself each morning:

“In Christ, I am loved and I am love.”

Then act from it—

one concrete choice of self-respect (rest, boundary, help-seeking),

and one concrete act of neighbor-love (a call, a meal, a listening ear).

Start with God’s voice, not the loudest voice.

What This Means for Us

As a church,

let’s be a community where worth comes before worthiness—

where our language, ministries,

and policies start with “beloved,” not “prove it.”

We will speak blessing,

make space for real stories,

and serve our neighbors from the overflow of God’s love.

That’s how we break on through—together. Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).