“Let all that you do be done in love“ (1 Corinthians 16:14).

In the original Greek, the word for “love” is “agape”. It does not mean love in the sense of human affection, but divine love.

Agape is a selfless gift given without expecting anything in return. It is a selfless love that sacrifices itself for others. Why does God do this? Because we humans cannot establish a relationship with God on our own. That is why God meets us in Jesus.

Agape is a relational concept. God comes to us of his own free will and enables us to have a relationship with him. When we accept this, agape comes into our hearts. This love becomes our lifestyle.

Paul writes in Romans 5:5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts.”

“Love means to live and act in such a way that others can grow, flourish and develop together with me” (Pastor Marcus Tesch).

We are only capable of unconditional love because we have agape in our hearts.

Every year, the Ecumenical Bible Group (ÖAB) chooses a verse from the Bible. This tradition was founded in 1930 by the Swabian pastor Otto Riethmüller. The motto for the year has nothing to do with the well-known daily readings