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His Love Made Perfect…in US
His Love Made Perfect….in US?
1 John 4:7-16
As we look into the manger – may we realize this perfect example of God’s love is here…to show us the mercy that will cause us His love to be made perfect in us.
The Shepherd’s View….
Of all the characters that gather around the Christ child, for some reason I feel the strongest connection to the shepherds, the ones who come in from the fields. I imagine myself there, looking down into the manger in amazement, looking down on a little baby. I think about trying to process what we had seen out in the field, the amazing words we had heard.
Can you imagine – these the least of those, the one’s whose “job” didn’t let them go home at night – if they even had a home, they were the ones who were brought to be the first witnesses of the birth of the Messiah.
Yet, looking down at the Baby… I can imagine their hearts pounding, the sacredness of the harsh manger overwhelming… and a question raising up inside…
Why me… why did God choose me to bear witness to this – and indeed I will – but why me?
Who us? Love made perfect in us
As I read the passage we heard a few moments ago from 1 John, the same question arises…especially as I hear these words in my mind,
God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us. 1 John 4:12 (TEV)
Me? Really? If there is a reason left in my mind as to God’s wisdom, it in choosing me. And I suspect, I am not the only one who is challenged in that way. Sunday, as Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s house, the same kind of response – why are you here, the mother of my Lord – to visit me? That attitude runs through scripture – Moses, Gideon, King David, so many others…
God you are going to make your love perfect… in me?
I so want to add on the word, “Really.” Do you know how broken, challenged, imperfect and sinful I am? And you are going to perfect you love… in me?
What do we think is love?
It is God sending Christ for us.
Knowing this – causes us to love each other
It doesn’t start with us – but with him
I think the answer comes to the “why me”, “really, me” questions, when we begin to hear what love really is. When we really understand why we toss a little manger and put a doll in it, to remember Christmas. Again – listen to St john’s epistle…
9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. 10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.1 John 4:9-10 (TEV)
Love is more than just a simple emotion – it is adoration and devotion in action. Not just thoughts – but that which compels us, that which drives us to act in the best interest of the one whom we love.
And it isn’t that we have loved God… it is that He loved us, proving it here.. (point to the manger) and here (Point to cross), enveloping us in His love as He baptized us into Christ, cleansing us from sin, as we feed on His Body and blood at the altar, as we are comforted by His presence, abiding in us – making us into the image of His son..
It is abiding in this love, living in it, reveling in it – letting it transform us, that brings us to the point where we can love Him – and even as that love resounds from us to Him, it envelopes those around us.
I used to think it a challenge to love those around us – something we have to exert all our energy, strain to do – that it was a challenge to love people who wronged me, or irritated me, or those wouldn’t forgive me for irritating them….
John is crying out to us, it isn’t about our straining to exert the effort to love. That kind of love comes – as we spend time in God’s presence, living and resting in His love, in realizing and meditating on and reveling in the love that He showed us; as His Son was born and died, and ascended… and the Spirit gathers us, and grants us faith and repentance.
That kind of love doesn’t have to be forced out – it grows and we find ourselves unable to keep it in.
Assured – and so we declare this to others….because we trust in the love God has for us!
That is the love that occurs because God came into the world – and cleanses us from sin. It is life changing, but such a challenge because we struggle to believe it, it is a challenge to know it is ours…
Here of it some more,
13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. 16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. 1 John 4:13-16 (TEV)
My friends, this is the love that saves the world, this is the love that takes this messed up, upside down, good is evil and bad is good and changes it, transforms it, makes it a place of peace.
This love is God’s love for you, it is the love He desires you to find life and rest in, it is the love that changes everything….
It is the love, that if we are honest, we are uncomfortable with, For we struggle to see ourselves there, and yet – that is the very… attitude that leads to worship – for God sees us and knows us and chooses to pour out that love on us..
So my friends – welcome God’s work in your life, welcome His love, and know, that yet – you really….
AMEN.
Why go to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…..
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day:
As I was in the place between sleep and waking this morning, my mind wandered and thought of the “work” that lay ahead of me this day…. a marathon of study and writing, and then two church services – and then just a few hours of sleep – then up for yet again another service. It’s a long day, this last day of preparation for the celebration of Christ’s birth.
And while I know it will be a great blessing, it is a long day as well….and part of me – just longed to sleep in! It’s the classic battle of our lives!
Some would use guilt, or a call to duty, or other gimmicks to give them the strength to get done what needs to be done. To be honest, I’ve thought of that, for all one has to do is look at the “successful” churches – and such techniques are used – even as they sincerely desire to have people come and hear of God’s love. It works – and there will be churches that are full, cathedrals with people huddling in from the cold, as people respond to the call of a “Holy Day of Obligation”, or that come because there is an incredible “show”.
My heart longs for our sanctuary to be filled – but it also longs for a different attitude from those coming. One that comes, in response to God’s love… to celebrate it, to hear about it, to revel in it.
Christmas Eve, as we re-live the last moments of expectation, and celebrate the coming of Christ, and indeed, Christmas Day as well – are not days of our obligation as much as days were God did what He fulfilled His obligations, His responsibility to us. That is what these days are about. Going all the way back to the Garden, God promised to cover our sins, He promised to fix our brokenness, He promised that we would always be welcome in His presence, and He has given us Jesus, His only begootten Son, and the gift of the presence of the Holy Spirit to prove it.
I long for the day, when this is so clear – that we rush to church – to hear it confirmed again, to celebrate this great love, to gather – not because we have to – but because it just makes sense to be with each other, those united in Christ, those who are One in Him.
They may say I am dreamer – but to quote the song, I am not the only one…..
A priest/pastor wrote…
In the interior life, as in human love, we have to persevere. Yes, you have to meditate often on the same themes, keeping on until you rediscover an old discovery. “And how could I not have seen this so clearly before?” you’ll ask in surprise. Simply because sometimes we’re like stones, that let the water flow over them, without absorbing a drop. That’s why we have to go over the same things again and again—because they aren’t the same things—if we want to soak up God’s blessings. (1)
I pray that as we gather this day. and tomorrow, and I pray that you do gather, that our hearts are open wide, are open expectantly, to soak up God’s blessings, to revel in them, to rejoice, and celebrate His love, that you know the depth and height and width and breadth of God’s love for you, in Christ Jesus. And I pray you pray the same for me…
Merry Christ’s gathering! (for that’s what Christmas means!)
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2034-2039). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
