December 23, 2020
…love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends… - 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
Advent Lighting – Light the four candles of advent; hope, peace, joy and love
It’s getting closer, the day of Christmas is almost here. At our home, children are anxious to open the presents under the Christmas tree. I’m sure they have tried to spy which ones might have their names written on them. They will surely find something of which to love when the gifts are opened on Christmas morning.
Love is a lot of things, and is found in a lot of things, and maybe if you find yourself with the opportunity to ask a child during these holy days, you should ask, ‘what is love to you?’ The answers might be genuine, or humorous, but children do start to get the concept of love even at an early age. Sometimes, I think the ideas of a child are so genuine, that we forget as adults, the genuineness of love that we may have once had.
We might realize that we don’t show love as often as we should, or in all the ways that we could. Yet, if we stop and listen for a moment, especially at Christmas time, we might hear love speak directly to our hearts. We might even find love is present in that very room.
There’s an old hymn that says; “love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas; star and angels gave the sign.” While love came incarnate at Christmas, the love of God was working long before that. Some theologians say that the first incarnation of love was found in creation itself. that everything around us was and is created out of love. Love is a grand legacy it can endure all things because it is in al things. It binds us, unites us, and leads us ever closer to the source of our love, which is in the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
John Wesley wrote: O grant that nothing in my soul may dwell, but Thy pure love alone! O may Thy love possess me whole, my joy my treasure and my crown. Strange fires for from my heart remove – my every act, word, thought, may it all be love!
For Wesley, and for us, the great legacy of Christmas is the love that can be born in us anew, and shared as the light of Christ for the world. It begins as we love one another as Christ first loved us.
Grace & Peace,
Sam