MEMORY VERSE:  We love because He first loved us. I John 4:19
     I still have to laugh at myself whenever I think about it.  Four people spent 45 minutes
each trying to find my car keys after an evening Bible Study at our church.  We looked
everywhere -- twice.  We checked my office,  the classroom,  the worship area,
bathrooms,  my car,  everywhere.  We stopped,  scratched our heads,  and searched some
more.  I had to find those keys.  Where could they possibly be?

     Finally somebody spied them.  They were lying on my briefcase by the main entrance.
I had put them there before class to remind me not to leave until I had taken care of some
small detail.  The keys I needed were not lost at all.  In fact,  they had been in plain sight
during the entire search.  I had just forgotten where I left them.

     Have you ever "lost" something very important,  only to find it later in the most
obvious of places?  Many of us have searched for eyeglasses that were perched on our
foreheads,  or hunted for a piece of paper we had tucked into a pocket,  or finally found
our shoes on the shoe rack.  Nearly everyone has had the experience of discovering some
"lost" treasure that was right where it belonged the whole time.  We simply forgot where
we left the thing.

     In the same way,  people in our world have lost the answers to some very important
questions.
+ "What is the purpose of life?"
+ "How can I deal with guilt?"
+ "Which actions are morally right?"
+  "Where can I find a sense of belonging?"
+ "How can I help make the world a better place?"
+ "What role should material possessions play in my life?"
+ "What happens when I die?"

       Such questions haunt us and hound us and send us scurrying for answers.  These are
among the very issues that have occupied many of the brightest minds in human history.
And no wonder.  Think how much richer life might be if we could only find the answers
to these questions.  Imagine the joy,  the confidence,  the peace that the knowledge of
such truths would produce in us.

     Could it be that we have not really lost these key truths at all?  Is it possible that the
answers we need are waiting to be discovered in the most obvious of places?  Right
where they belong?  Right where we left them?

     Emphatically,  YES!

       Week after week,  year after year,  the Christian Faith proclaims sound and profound
answers to these questions.  The Christian Faith announces the Good News (or "Gospel")
about God's love for us in Jesus Christ.  When we  understand more fully God's love for
us in Christ,  and when we hear Him calling us to live as agents of His love,  the answers
to life's most vexing questions start to become clear.
 
      Unfortunately,   many people would never think of looking to the Gospel of Christ for
answers.  People frequently pass by the thing they are searching for without even
knowing it is there.  The "most obvious place" is often the last place we look.

     This course is designed to help us look in the right place.  We will look to the Gospel.
We will look to the Bible.  We will look to the message that Christ commissioned the
Church to proclaim. There we will discover and explore together many exciting truths
about God,  about life,  and about ourselves.

     A good summary of this course would be I John 4:19,  We love because He first loved
us.  This is also a pretty good summary of the Bible. God's love for us in Christ is the
main message of the Gospel.  It is the primary theme of Scripture.  (See Chapter 9.)
 
     Remember studying about axioms and theorems when you took mathematics?  An
axiom is a foundational truth.  It is a statement which implies other things.  A theorem is
a secondary truth. It is a statement that logically follows from an axiom. If an axiom is
true,  then all its theorems are also true. The statement that God "first loved us" is
axiomatic.  It is the basic truth from which important theological theorems can be
derived.  One of the convictions of this course is that the answers to all the basic
questions we mentioned above are clearly  implied by basic truth that God loves us.

    The course is divided into three main parts,  each of which focuses on a different aspect
of the love of God.   In the Part One   we will look at what it means to say God first loved
us.  In Part Two we will explore a variety of ways in which we are called to love our
neighbors as ourselves.  Part Three will examine ways in which we can deepen our love
relationship with God.

     Since this course is designed as a membership enhancement class for Woodbury
Presbyterian Church,  our lessons follow the same sequence  as our Sunday liturgy (order
of worship).   Thus it also follows broadly the sequence of the "An Outline of the Service
for the Lord's Day" in the Book of Common Worship.1

     The similarity between the structure of this course and the structure of our regular
worship experience should have two complimentary benefits.  First,  the things we learn
in this study will be recapitulated for us each Sunday as we gather for worship.  We will
be reminded weekly of the thrilling truths we are about to encounter and explore.  This
will help keep them fresh in our minds and in our lives.

     Second,  our deeper study of the truths proclaimed in the liturgy will certainly make
our participation in worship more meaningful.   My wife tells about going to church the
first Sunday after Jesus Christ became a Reality for her.  As the people around her droned
through the liturgy,  she said she wanted to grab them,  shake them and shout, "Don't you
hear what you're saying?"  She was joyful and  excited about the Gospel's life-changing
truth,  yet her fellow worshipers seemed bored.  In the following lessons,  we will hear
the Good News which the Church proclaims.  When we really hear this great truth, we
discover just how exciting it is.  Such discovery will make our lives more worshipful,
and  our worship more lively.

     One last point.  This course is subtitled God's Love in Action.  Our actions are
important to the course.  Essential Christianity is not a purely theoretical enterprise.  The
following pages are not to be read,  pondered,  understood and remembered (or worse,
forgotten).  To gain the full benefit of what we learn,  we must put it into practice.  In a
sense the phrase "God's love in action"  is redundant.  It is almost a tautology.  For true
love is always active,  always involved,  always participating.  Real love  does something.

     Therefore  you will be asked to do several things for each unit.  First,  of course,  you
will want to become familiar with the material presented in each chapter.  You can do this
by reading the chapter (about 20 pages),  by watching a video of a lecture on the chapter,
or by listening to the chapter on audio tape.2

     Second,   you will be asked to memorize a verse of Scripture each week.  A poster and
a card are provided to help you do that.  You can put the poster on your mirror,  dash
board,  refrigerator,  or any place you will see it often.  Let it remind you to memorize
that passage of Scripture.  The card can be carried with you in your pocket or purse for
you to review throughout the week. (Keep the cards from previous weeks so that you can
review them as you learn new Scripture.)   If you have never engaged in the discipline of
memorizing Scripture,  you will be delighted at how enriching an activity it is.

     Third,  please plan to attend the group session on each unit.  Much of the what
happens during this course will occur when you gather in the company of friends who are
on the same quest with you.  Simply reading the material in this book will not have nearly
the same impact as  reading the material and attending the sessions.

     Finally,  you will be asked to take some specific form of action with each unit.  You
will be encouraged  to incorporate some form of practical application of what we learn
into your regular life.  The practical application for this introduction or prelude is simple:
Arrange your schedule for the next thirteen weeks so that you can participate fully in this
course.

     My prayer for you as we begin this study together is that you will discover the key
truths that make life as wonderful and rich as God intends for it to be.  My prayer is that
you will not only encounter,  but also become more deeply involved in Essential
Christianity:  God's Love In Action.
 

NOTE:  Essential Christianity:  God's Love In Action will be offered again starting
January,  1998 If you would like to register for this course,  please call Pastor Rod at
282-LOVE.
 

1 Book of Common Worship C. 1993 Westminister/John Knox Press, Louisville KY pp. 46-47

2 Audio and video tapes of the chapters will be available at a later date.  At this time the only option is to read the chapters.