This week is the final week of Advent. The week we light the candle of LOVE. It is the week we linger in the last few days of anticipation for Christmas, and if you’re anything like my Christmas obsessed toddler, the anticipation is HIGH. This week our scripture readings are:
- Isaiah 7:10-16
- Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
- Romans 1:1-7
- Matthew 1:18-25
All throughout the accounts of Jesus’ birth, the stories leading up to it, and those following show us radical love. In Matthew chapter 1 we see Mary, a young girl sacrificing so much to carry, birth, and raise Jesus. A mother’s love. We see Joseph loving Mary in a powerful way that their culture did not require or particularly encourage. Joseph loved and helped raise Jesus, again, when he did not “have” to. We see Jesus, Emmanuel, “God with us” the image of perfect love. The creator and sustainer of life, the Lord of Lords, the God of the Universe, a vulnerable, squishy, baby who needed diaper changes, who needed to be nursed, who needed to be cared for in every way. He was in the care of human parents, submitting himself to living a human life so that we can fully know the deep love of God.
God’s people for centuries cried out to God to bring salvation and the Messiah. They prayed “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” (Psalm 80:19). And God did just that, but in such an unexpected way, yet in the way that most vividly showed how much God loves us by being with us in every sense of that phrase.
A favorite quote of mine is “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in the conspiracy of love.” -Hamilton Wright Mabie. Advent, and soon Christmastide is a time where God’s love is on fully display for us, it is a time to be reminded of the love Christ showed us, it is a time for us to engage the world with God’s love. There’s a lot of “conspiracies” in the world but how powerful would it be if we, as people who claim to be people of God, actually “conspired” to truly be people of love. Not people of hatred, violence, fear, bigotry, or apathy. But people truly seeking, being, and living out God’s love to our world? I feel like I must include the name of this website “Fully Formed in Love”. This Christmas, as we remind ourselves of the Christchild coming in humility and perfect love, may we allow ourselves to be formed by God’s love in all aspects of our life. As we are heading into Christmas, the busyness of getting it all ready, making sure everything is perfect, buying last minute gifts, going to parties, celebrating with family, make sure to take some time to simply rest, be still, and allow yourself to be loved by God.
Be Blessed & Be a Blessing,
-Maddie 🙂