The Coming of Love (4th Sunday of Advent)
Ruth Ann Stites, Staff Writer
In this final week of Advent before we reach the day of celebration of Jesus’s birth the emphasis is on love. When we look at the whole of our Advent meditations, they are all bound together with love from start to finish.
Years ago, I attended a library conference in Indiana where a bunch of us set out one evening for the local ice cream shop – every small town seems to have one not too far away. This one required a drive through a quiet, late spring evening past woods and fields and meadows. In the meadows on this balmy evening fireflies glittered, flashed, and flitted, making the drive magical in its beauty. Our enjoyment, though, had nothing to do with the purpose of the fireflies. Their glowing flashes of light have two major purposes, to warn predators that they are toxic and to attract a mate. A tertiary purpose for some species is to attract prey of their own. To sum up, fireflies light up to survive as individuals and as a species.
My firefly memory relates to Advent as an example of the complexity of relationships and perspectives needed to understand why hope, peace, joy, and love are inseparably linked to the glory of the Father who observes our acceptance and growth in these essential qualities. Without hope, there can be no peace. Who can find any peace on any level without the foundation of hope that such a thing is possible? For Christians, the promise of the coming of the King of kings is the foundation on which we base our understanding of the peace He promises. Without peace there is little likelihood of true joy. Even in secular psychology a foundation of peace is seen as prerequisite for joy that can coexist with challenges.[1]
And, finally, we come to the glue that holds it all together, love. God defines Himself in terms of love. And, as creatures who were designed to reflect their Creator, human beings are defined by how they love. On both the secular and sacred levels, agape, unconditional, self-giving love is the true measuring stick of human success in living. In light of Advent, love gives us a reason to hope, love provides the promise of peace, love is the impetus of joy, and, coming full circle, love defines the heart of Christmas, Jesus who came to earth because the Father loved us enough to send His Son to be born in a manger in Bethlehem two millennia ago.
Paul, in Philippians 2 gives us the following analysis of Jesus’s incarnation:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (verses 6-11)
As we come to the end of anticipation, the end of Advent, let the beauty and wonder of Christmas illuminate your celebrations knowing that the complexity and depth of meaning of hope, peace, joy all bound and held together in love provides an unshakable foundation in the Person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
(Photo credit: R. A. Stites, Silver Dollar City, Missouri, 2015)
[1] Joy vs Happiness What’s the Difference? – Still Mind Florida offers some insight into this concept.
