Fourth Sunday in Advent - 2020

The Love Candle 

As my reflections this year have been inspired by messages from a particular pastor, I won't stop now and continue to put my personal spin on his Advent messages. Thank you to George Saylor in Colorado. 

As the COVID-19 virus continues to impact our world, one of the beautiful blessings that has come from this is all the church services that have gone online, of which George's is one. I could tune in to many others, but for some reason, this is the one I've come back to throughout this season. And I am grateful. 

The fourth candle - the candle right before the Christ candle. I didn't realize it but nowhere in the four gospels is there mention of 'love' in connection to the story of Christ's birth. Peace - yes, joy - yes, but no love.  Not in the narrative of Christ's birth in any of the gospels. Hmm. 

We live in a world that seems to be devoid of love. Real, genuine love. People say they love you, people use the name for all sorts of things - "I love my dog!", "I love Chinese food!", "I love this dress!" .... and yet, they think nothing of spewing hateful things at those who think differently, or firing someone if they don't fit with the popular ones. Say 'love' all you want, but when it is no longer convenient, then the door is slammed shut. Profess your love all you want, but with the divorce rate where it is, what you love one day can be hated the next. In truth, how we treat each other is becoming a concern of mine - what I've witnessed on social media, and what I've experienced in the last few months (culminating with my dismissal from the work I gave my heart and life to), and the hate that is swirling around in politics towards those who believe differently than you do, where is this leading us? Have we forgotten what real love is? or is it just a word? A word that we can manipulate to mean what we want it to mean?

The thing is ... there needs to be a constant, with which we can hold up our human experience and compare it with something that does not change. If we put our certainty into something that holds no certainty, then where does that leave us? So often, people call for the 'facts', the science that apparently is indisputable ... except, then something is 'discovered' and that which is indisputable all of a sudden is shown to have holes and falsities. If something is 'fact', it must stand the test of time.  But, more often than not, we live is a world of opinions, which can change with the slightest breeze. So, where do we go to for that which does not change, no matter how much time passes? 

ἠγάπησεν is the Greek word for 'love' as in John 3:16a - For God so loved the world. And, this word is from agapaô (agapao), which means "to be fond of", "to greet with affection", "to persuade", "to caress", "to prize", "to desire", "to be pleased with," and "to be contended with." This love is more associated with affection than passion. My source for this.The literal translation: Therefore, since God was fond of the world order, he appointed the son unique in order that all believing in him might not want to cease to exist but might possess life eternal. Isn't that interesting? I don't think that is anything at all like what most Christians think of when they hear that verse. "Fond of the world order"? I am starting to wonder what 'love' really does mean. 

The other word - 'agapao' is also interesting ... we jump to the conclusion that it means 'agape', and that is thought to be ... when it really means Greek agapē, in the New Testament, the fatherly love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God. ... In Scripture, the transcendent agape love is the highest form of love and is contrasted with eros, or erotic love, and philia, or brotherly love. Agape is also seen as the one-way form of love from God to people. Also, Agape is a noun-form of love whereas Agapao is a verb-form of love.

So, if this is all connected, how you verb-love in a God-like way? Something active? something requiring something? ... Something, like ... a sacrifice?  How do you verb-love people that have not yet been born? people that will spit on you and kill you? people that don't believe you? is this even something we, in our mortal-human form, can even understand? Maybe not. Maybe, in this, somehow, it's important to at least contemplate that there is something beyond us, beyond our capability to not only understand but also to do. 

This does not come to a nice conclusion, and maybe I end with more questions than I have answers. Maybe the best I can conclude with is the love God has for this creation is something we can only faintly touch in knowledge, and the aspiration to follow in His footsteps ...  Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life, for my sake, will find it." Maybe somehow, this is all linked. 

In the end, love is more than a word. It's something for others, it's something about action, it's something about sacrifice. It's something bold and alive.

It's something we don't earn or achieve ... but receive. 

And that's where the story begins. 

Amen.