In love God creates the world and fashions humanity. God's intention is that humanity should have a loving relationship with him. That relationship is expressed not only in our love for God but also and simultaneously in loving fellowship with our neighbours, both of which imply respect for the creation by which we are surrounded. Our calling is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Our God-given free will and creativity are to be used to fashion just, merciful, loving, inclusive communities in harmony with the whole of God's creation. To use Jesus' language, we are called to foreshadow the kingdom of heaven here on earth.
The call to fulfil our destiny in this way is continually disrupted by humankind's insistence on independence from God. From the earliest times people have used their free will and creativity in ways that separate themselves from one another and from God.
God became human in Christ, and entered our world of broken relationships, bringing reconciliation, teaching and healing. In a way that transcends time and space, Christ takes upon himself all the evil and suffering there ever was or ever will be, and through his life, death and resurrection makes it possible for these barriers between us and God to be transcended. By this act, God enables us to live in a full loving relationship with him and with each other, in and through Christ. Our isolation and fear are thereby overcome as we are called into mutual dependence, giving and receiving forgiveness. The amazing love God has shown in Christ demands that we abandon our self-centredness and help those in need. Only thus can we live the full life to which God calls us.