What God Wants.

It is simple.

What God wants is a warmer, more caring, more loving society; a more equal, more tolerant, more just world.

You can forget about battles against evil, moral end-games, magical salvation, guilt games, and threats of hell.
God is none of these things.

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"  Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

"Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another."  Zechariah 7:9,10 (NRSV)

"'Go and learn what this means, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."'"  Matthew 9:13a (NRSV)

As in the Psalms God is rejecting the ritual of the priests in favor of a change of heart, a modification in the way we live and relate to one another.

The main reason why this doesn't happen is fear.
People are afraid of each other.  They are afraid to open their hearts to others in case they get hurt or look stupid.

All too often the Church has been an agent of fear, effectively stopping the development God wants.

The time has come to put aside all those things which inspire fear in people and allow the love which is waiting to flow freely between us.


[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]