Advent Week 4: Love

(The following is from material I prepared for our church community. It is comprised of a short homily regarding the third week of Advent focusing on love, followed by a community prayer, then by a devotional to help people go deeper in the experience of Advent and the Christmas season.)

This week of Advent, as we continue in the experience of anticipating the arrival of Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem, as the reigning King at his second coming and his arrival in the here and now in the person of the Holy Spirit, we are focusing on love.

God is love. God is love. God is love. This wonderful phrase from John's first letter, is God's revelation about himself. It's a simple phrase but it deeply and profoundly tells us about God's essence. It doesn't say that God loves, though he certainly does. It doesn't say that God is a lover though he certainly is. It says, "God is love." The sun in our solar system is always and continuously shining its light and warmth towards the earth. It can do no other. It is its nature. In the same way, God is always and continuously loving. Everything he does is loving. He can do no other because he is love.

This was most clearly demonstrated on the first Christmas. Scriptures tell us that God so loved the world that he sent his only son. Love acts. Jesus, who is God, and is also pure love, loved us so much that he gave up his rights in heaven, and took on flesh, becoming fully human, the fullness of God dwelling in a human body, being born in a poor, dirty stable amongst his creatures, Mary, Joseph, cow, donkey, spider. He was wrapped in rags and laid in a feed trough. He did this for you and me. He did this because he is pure love. Not only that, but he came knowing that part of his journey was the cross, being willing to suffer and die a criminal's death because of his pure love.

Just as that love that cannot be contained, submitted himself to be held in the feeding trough, to be held in the arms of those he created, so too when he ascended to heaven, he sent another One who is pure love to be held, or contained in a way that we can understand within us. Pure love indwells us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

And, as we look forward to the future, when we arrive in our true home, heaven, we will be in a deeper, fuller way that we can't even imagine, in the presence of complete and pure Love.

All of this is cause to stand in awe and worship. All of this is cause to rejoice this Christmas.

Community Prayer (Responsive Reading)

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Oh Lord my God, you are love, pure love!

Father, lover of my soul, you loved us so much that you saw us in our poverty, our deep need, our sinfulness, and despite our sinfulness, you loved us. You acted in unimaginable love by sending Jesus.

Oh Lord my God, you are love, pure love!

Jesus, lover of my soul, you were willing to humble yourself and enter our world, becoming human, becoming a baby, in the most humbling of circumstances, because you love us.

Oh Lord my God, you are love, pure love!

Holy Spirit, lover of my soul, you loved us so much that you were willing to also, in a sense, take on flesh by indwelling us. You are lovingly and intimately present, shining your love in and through us.

Oh Lord my God, you are love, pure love!

Holy Trinity, lover of my soul, we look forward to the day when we will be with you forever, dwelling in your house, in your unmitigated presence, for all of eternity.

Oh Lord my God, you are love, pure love!

We love you Lord!

Come Lord God, come!

Weekly Reflection and Practice Booklet

1. Spend a moment sitting in the presence of God. Imagine his pure love shining on you.

2. Read the following verses:

John 3:16

1 John 4:16

Romans 5:8

Spend some time with these verses and talk to God about what comes up for you.

3. God is love. Imagine what God would say to you personally if he were to write you a Christmas card/letter expressing his love to you. Use your imagination and what you know of his love from Scripture to actually put pen to paper and write it, from God to yourself in words that you, in your uniqueness, most respond to. (If you have a spare Christmas card, you could write it on that!)

4. Keep the letter in a place where you will see it and spend some time reflecting on it daily.

5. Share your experience with someone else.