Advent 4 - LOVE

It feels strong to have the last Sunday of Advent fall on Christmas Eve. Many churches have forgone a Sunday morning service, in favor of evening Christmas Eve services. I understand why, but it still makes me sad to skip this last week of Advent. It's arguably the best week- Love. It's the "reason for the season" as some might say.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world. Not because God was so disappointed in the world or hated the world or was fed up with the world. This miracle that we wait for each year, that we will celebrate tomorrow, is a celebration of love. The love of God to a people who can never do enough to earn it.

My favorite part of Christmas is the absurdity of it all. God showed God's love in the most unexpected way possible- an unwed teenage mother, a smelly barn, and a bedraggled group of shepherds. God's love is made manifest in a tiny baby boy. No one saw this coming.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas, let us celebrate extraordinary love. Let us look for love in the most unlikely of places, and let us return that love in extraordinary measure.