Advent Week 3: Love

love
in a young girl's song;
fearful,
determined,
hopeful,
bursting.

love
in a mother's song;
tender,
embracing,
challenging,
stern.

love
is god's song;
curious yet timid,
playful and wondering,
coming among us again.
we light a candle for love.


1 Corinthains 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

[8] Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. [9] For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10] but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. [11] When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. [12] Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

[13] And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


I have done countless weddings using this passage to describe to the bride and groom what love is. Some of the weddings I have done have been for non-Christians. This is open for debate and maybe one day I would to express my feelings on why pastors should welcome the opportunity to perform these services. Even at these weddings I have read from this passage. It is a very pretty passage and it fits nicely into any wedding.

But I wanted to focus on the last 7 words, “But the greatest of these is love.”

We live for a time of peace, comfort, joy, and hope. Do you realize that we cannot experience any of these things without love? If we are not loved can we know peace, comfort, joy, and hope? If we are not sharing love can we know peace, comfort, joy, and hope?

I was talked with a friend the other day about life, school, music, creation, and God. We pondered on the question, “Why did God create us?” One answer I have always heard was so that we can worship and honor Him. This is good, but is there more?

I feel that God created us to experience love, to be loved and to share love. We share that love with one another and we share that love with God (Matt 22:37). We are complete in love (1 John 4:12). Rather we are incomplete without love. When we are loving God, worshiping and honoring Him comes natural.

So what has caused this great separation from us and God? Maybe we have forgotten how to love Him (Rev 2:4). Consider the ultimate sacrifice that God made for us because He loves us. God’s love has never been far away and the chasm is not that deep, it just seems that way. He loves you! May you experience the gift of love this Christmas.