LOVE
"A New Light is Shining"
"A New Light is Shining"
It all comes down to this. Love one another, Jesus says. “As I have loved you, so you should love one another.” Jesus says it is by our love alone that world will know we are his followers, his disciples. He says that his single, new commandment – that we love one another – sums up all the law and the prophets, all the wisdom and teaching of God. Scripture challenges us that “one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7) When we love, we dwell in the very nature of God. Love is the Gospel in a single word. And the One God sends is coming into the world to enflesh that word for all to see.
O Come All Ye Faithful, gather around the advent wreath. Light the candles one by one and remember. Remember that so long ago God came to live among us and comes again each and every day. What better way to enter our lives than as a tiny, helpless yet cherished symbol of hope - an infant child. What joy we find in the expectant lives of Mary and Elizabeth who knew the miracle of life within themselves. What peace we find in the promise of salvation to the desperate and frightened. Love came to change the world and continues to enlighten our lives. We join together each Sunday in worship to remember the story that offers us hope, joy, peace and love.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. Free us from the sin that would obstruct your mercy, that willingly we may bear your redeeming love to all the world, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. Amen.
FIRST READING: 2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16
RESPONSIVE READING: Luke 1:46b–55
SECOND READING: Romans 16:25–27
GOSPEL: Luke 1:26–38
