This is a book about the greatest love story ever told. It is a story that plays out in three places: in God, in human history and in our lives. And we explore each in turn.
God is Three Persons in infinite-eternal Love. For God is a beginning less, endless Act of Love of the Lover (the Father), the Beloved (the Son) and the Co-Beloved (the Spirit). The Three are One Heart. For to be Heart is to give all of one's being to the Other: to give totally, unconditionally, forever: to love. They are Three "centers" in a single Ultimate Reality of Love. One Heart. This is the first "level" of the Love Story.
The Father loved us into being through his Son and his Spirit. We were created so that we too might be drawn into the infinite-eternal Love of the Three Persons, our hearts embedded in the Heart of God.
But, as the hunter-gatherers and every ancient culture tells us, we chose not to respond in kind. Our hearts were hardened and we said No to the divine invitation of Love. The result was the ultimate heart attack of death and destruction. Nevertheless, our heart-broken Lover pursued us.
On the human side, the religions of Africa, Mesoamerica, India, China, Persia, Israel and the Mediterranean societies recognized their Creator and sought forgiveness through the universal practice of sacrifice. But all recognized the breach could not be healed without a perfect sacrifice made by the sinless One. This understanding of God, God 1.0, culminated in the revelation received by the people of Israel.
The next stage of the Love Story in human history was the incarnation of the Son in Jesus of Nazareth. It was Jesus who revealed God 2.0.
He proclaimed a revolution: "The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth."
The whole identity and mission of Jesus of Nazareth centered on the Father. Jesus addressed God only as Father. The Father revealed by Jesus was:
•prodigal in his limitless love, all Heart
•more intimate than any earthly parent and therefore called Abba (the affectionate Aramaic expression for one's own father) and, above all,
•"our" Father meeting all our needs, all the time, and drawing us into God Space, the protection and provision of his Providence.
Henceforth, we cannot see God except as the infinitely, unconditionally loving Father who makes us his children through his Son and in his Holy Spirit. God 2.0. God as Heart.
By his death and resurrection, Jesus made the perfect sacrifice and removed the barrier to our union with God. Through the waters of baptism, we are invited to be re-invented as a new race: redeemed by the Son and filled with the Spirit and thereby children of the Father in the fullest sense who will live "happily ever after". This is level two of the Love Story.
The third and final level of the Love Story is our own life. We are each love letters written by the Father. If we accept his offer of eternal union, we become his Love Story.
