Love Comes Alive!
Can you think of a time in your life that God’s love was demonstrated in a concrete, tangible way in your life? Perhaps it was a time when someone showed you incredible graciousness or forgiveness. Perhaps it was a moment when the beauty of God’s creation filled you with awe. Perhaps it was a moment when you were supported through difficult times by a community, maybe even your church community. There are many times that God’s love feels alive in our lives.
Our theme this Advent season is Love Comes Alive! Advent is a season of expectation, awaiting the ways God’s love takes flesh in the world. It is a season of looking ahead to the time when God’s presence and love fills all things, but to do that we also look back at the ways that God has shown up as “God with us.” Of course that is above all seen in Jesus, but God is also alive and present in our own lives. Indeed, Advent is not primarily a season of remembering; it is a season of expecting. It is a season of expecting God to show it in concrete ways. It is expecting that God’s love we transform the world in real ways. God’s love is a living love that builds connections where all we could possibly imagine is hatred and separation. It is a love that goes beyond acceptance to reconciliation. God’s love is a love that supports us in difficult times, when we feel hopeless and unlovable. In Advent, we expect God’s love to show up in our lives in a living way. That implies that we do not always feel that love or see its results in our lives, but that we have faith that it is on its way to us, to lift us up in our times of need.
The expectation of God’s living love being on its way transforms us. As we trust in the promise of God with us, we are freed to live in the abundance of that love and to bring its blessing to others. As we move through this Advent season, may we be attuned to God showing up in our lives, and be moved to share that hope with others through our own actions of love. May we be the concrete way that God’s love is known to others, this Advent and always.
Love Comes Alive!
Weekly themes
Advent 1, Nov. 27 Love is Near
Advent 2, Dec. 4 Love With One Voice
Advent 3, Dec. 11 Signs of Love
Advent 4, Dec. 18 Chris is Living Love
Pick up your Advent Devotion book.
This season’s Advent Devotion booklet Love Comes Alive is a theological word-a-day Advent calendar. Pick up a printed copy in the narthex or download it.