Unbounded Love
God's love doesn't stay in the lines
Charles Wesley's famous hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (Singing the Faith 503) talks about Jesus as 'unbounded love' – a kind of love that cannot be contained, that works in our lives and in our world to free us and heal us. Unbounded Love is the theme of the Lent campaign of the Methodist Church in 2024 – holding together our commitments to be a justice-seeking church, and a people who experience and proclaim the good news of God's uncontainable love.
Sign up for daily reflection emails during Lent
Throughout Lent we are sharing daily email reflections that explore the theme of Unbounded Love. Sign up to receive these each day, beginning on Wednesday 14 February and discover a rhythm of reflection over Lent. You'll also be signed up to future reflection series.
What to expect?
A range of resources that connect the Gospel readings from the Sunday lectionary throughout Lent to weekly themes, each one a line lifted from "Love divine, all loves excelling". The themes are:
Week 1 – "Unbounded love": Jesus' baptism and wilderness experience – God's love bursts the barriers of heaven, and then bursts into the realms of darkness.
Week 2 – "Visit us with thy salvation": Losing our life (psyche) to find it – the ways we attempt to insulate ourselves from God's love.
Week 3 – "Pure and spotless let us be": Turning the tables in the Temple – corporate religious attempts to boundary God's love.
Week 4 – "Finish then thy new creation": God's unbounded love for the cosmos.
Week 5 – "Changed from glory into glory": Like a seed that has to die before it bears fruit, death is no barrier to God's love.
Week 6 – "Till we cast our crowns before thee": As Jesus entered Jerusalem the people responded by taking off their cloaks. What's our equivalent?
Holy Week – "Lost in wonder, love, and praise!": As Jesus becomes bound by his opponents, will God's love stay bound?
What will be available?
For individuals
Forty daily discipleship prompts, delivered straight to your email inbox every day of Lent, excluding Sundays. Daily emails will include Bible studies, creative activities and challenges to take an action.
For Churches
- A poster to display outside your church during Lent, inviting passers-by to consider the message of Unbounded Love.
- Light-touch guidance for either Sunday services or small groups, lifting some of the themes and activities from the daily discipleship prompts for leaders to use and adapt in local settings.
- Social media content posted on the Methodist Church social media channels throughout Lent for you to share and engage with – especially on Ash Wednesday, which also happens to be Valentine's Day, and the perfect opportunity to launch the campaign.
