...this is all about kenosis... an invaluable strain of Christian faith. It describes the ‘self-emptying’ of God witnessed in the incarnation of Christ – his choice to become mortal and to utterly expend himself for others.

For Christians that process of becoming all that we were meant to be can only be perfected in relationships – for the Bible suggests that relationship is at the heart of who we are, and at the heart of who God is. We are made for each other and we are made for God. And in relationships, relentlessly pursuing what I want is a quick recipe for disaster. Every true relationship involves selflessness: actively seeking what is good for the other and learning to deny yourself.

Kenosis is creative, a rare and precious truth you might like to adopt as a snappy mission statement for your church and dispense with those unnecessary bullet points. When it is over looked we find evandalism – self-regard, dominance, suffocation.

According to St. John’s Gospel, disciples of Jesus are sent on their mission in the same way that our Lord was sent into to world by God the Father. We must attempt to ‘empty ourselves of all but love’, in Wesley’s stylish phrase, and preach the good news with the incredible courtesy of Christ. After you, naturally.