Chapter II: Foreword

This book was born out of a living encounter with the members of the Christian Education Conference to which I lectured at the American Baptist Assembly at Green Lake, Wis., in August of 1958. As I stepped to the speaker's rostrum to begin my first lecture to that group, and my first to so large a group of Baptist lay people, I wondered whether I as an Episcopalian and they as Baptists had images of each other that would help or hinder our communication. I shared with them my question and learned later they had been asking themselves the same question. I explained that I had prepared myself to speak to them in the hope that through me some of the truth of God would be heard by them, and I explained also that their lives were to be their preparation for hearing what I had to say; that is, that I hoped they would work as hard to hear me as I would work to make myself understood. They responded in good spirit, so that the Spirit of God spoke through and to all of us.

I describe this occasion because it produced the experience and context out of which the present book appeared. _Herein Is Love_ is, I believe, an outward and visible sign of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit experienced on that occasion; and I offer it as a means of opening to others the possibility of participating in this fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

The theme of the book grows out of that experience: As the love of God required incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth in order that it might be received by us, so the Word of God's love in our day calls for persons in whom it may be embodied. The church, as the embodiment of divine love in human relationships, has tremendous responsibilities and opportunities in our modern culture. The old and familiar biblical symbols and stories do not always communicate their meanings to men today, and we must find a language that does. The language of the lived life of both man and God is the one that we shall use here in an attempt to open to us the meaning of the life of man and of God.

Reuel L. Howe

January 10, 1961

CONTENTS

PAGE
FOREWORD 7

CONTENTS 9

I
SOME FRIGHTENED FRIENDS 11

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear."
--_1 John 4:18_

II
GOD IN THE WORLD 26

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...."
--_John 3:16_

III
HEREIN IS LOVE 43

"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and
he who loves is born of God and knows God."--_1 John 4:7_

IV
SOME OBJECTIVES OF LOVE 61

"Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in
deed and in truth."--_1 John 3:18_

V
THOSE WHO WOULD LOVE 82

"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because
we love the brethren."--_1 John 3:14_

VI
LOVE IN ACTION 99

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
--_1 John 3:16_