God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not perish but have eternal life. It was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through hum the world might be saved.John 3:16-17, REB
All this has been the work of God. He has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has enlisted us in the this ministry of reconciliation: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, no longer holding people's misdeed against them, and has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation.2 Cor 5:18-19
This is the Gospel of God, the Good News of the reconciliation of the world with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the boundless, free gift of God through the Spirit.
Separated from God through sin - not moral failing, but broken relationship - not just we who are bearers of this message of peace, of love, of hope, but all creation now stands under the judgment of God in Christ, that judgment being just this - that death no longer holds sway, that love for one another and all creation is the sum of the law. This work is not ours. This Word is not ours, but the free and gracious gift of the God who has sought us and bought us. Our ministry, our work, is to live for the world in such a way that all creation knows just this and this alone - in God we are free, free from sin, free from the bondage of death, free from the fear of condemnation.
Faith in this new reality - a new reality that is already alive in us at our baptism - gives us strength to take to all the world the message that God calls us to live together in light of this Divine forbearance and favor. Our work is nothing more or less than living out this reality yet to come, to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit for all creation to witness.
That's the Good News. God loves us. In Jesus, the incarnate Son of the Father, united in the love of the Spirit, creation no longer exists in defiance of the creator's will and favor, but is already moving toward that moment when the will and love and hope of God for that which God has made will be made new in us and the world.
