Light a candle for love

Scripture speaks of Christ as the light coming into the world. In celebration and anticipation of that coming, we light candles for the four weeks leading to Christmas. So far this Advent, we have gathered to light candles of defiance, hope & generosity. This Sunday morning, although we will not be together, we are invited to light a candle for love.The gospel of John tells us that in God,

The Word became flesh and blood,and moved into the neighborhood.We saw the glory with our own eyes,the one-of-a-kind glory,like Father, like Son,Generous inside and out,true from start to finish- John 1:14, MSG

John tells us that the Creator of all that was & is moved down into our pain, our brokenness, our longing, our clutter & our craziness.  God entered it all. Through flesh & blood, God came to us. That's what God does & that's what God's kind of love looks like.It looks like Jesus - hope-giving, defiant, generous Jesus.So, as we light the candle of love, let us reflect on God's kind of love:the kind we see in Jesus,the kind that enters pain & discomfort,the kind that creates, heals, forgives & makes a new way forward there.Would we dare to receive this love, to be shaped by it & to share it?Come, loving One. Be born in us and through us. Amen.[We hope to see you at our 4 p.m. Christmas Eve gathering with Church Without Walls, St. John's Lutheran & St. Mary's Episcopal at 325 N. Market Street.]