Early Christian reflection centers on the conviction that “in Christ” every thing is being held together. Rooted in God’s love and articulated in texts like Ephesians, we get a bird's-eye-view of God, the world, Jesus, the church, the meaning of salvation, and what it means to be genuinely human. And this vision affirms that our essential nature is found not in religious markers or achievements but in faith actively expressed through love, thereby displaying to the world what fully human life was always meant to be.

POEM GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING

A Lessening 

I do not plan to start anew 

in January 

that is for spring 

this is the night 

in the dead of winter 

where I pare back excess

to reach the bones of my life 

so when I am rèborn 

I am reborn as only my most essential nature.

David Gate, A Rebellion of Care