Fourth Week of Advent: Love

     The final week of Advent focuses on the theme of love, at least in the tradition I'm following. To be honest, I approach this reflection with some trepidation. I feel ill-qualified to speak on the subject. Perhaps this is in large part because when people hear the word "love," they often think of romantic love, and I will be up front and admit that I have little experience in that area. There's also the fact that love is simply so big and important. After all, in the middle of a discussion of spiritual gifts in I Corinthians, Paul interrupts himself to say that no gifts are valuable without love behind them, and ends by saying that, "so now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I think it's an understatement then to say that love is a big deal. It's also multi-faceted and as I pondered what to write this week, I immediately realized that perhaps it'd be best to choose just one aspect to focus on. After all, books and books have been written on the subject of love and there always seems to be more to say. So, rather than try to provide some overarching reflection of love, today I'll focus on an aspect of love that is perhaps not as popular as the butterflies and fine feelings, but is of great importance for Christmas: the patience and persistence of love, even when the beloved fails repeatedly. 

     It is probably not without reason that when Paul lists off some attributes of love in I Corinthians 13, he begins by saying that "love is patient." He then ends his list by saying that "love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." All these descriptions bear witness to the fact that love can be messy and painful. The Classic Crime has a song about love entitled "Broken Mess," and I think it speaks well to this side of love. In the song, the singer (Matt McDonald), speaks of his friend whose wife openly cheats on him. This leads the singer to remark that "love is a terrible art; it's a hook in the heart that can drag you on broken glass" and can ultimately turn one into a "broken mess." The singer initially cannot understand why, or truly how, his friend can continue to love his wife and fight for her. Eventually the singer implies that the source of his friend's love is God Himself, who is "close to the broken." The song then ends by extolling the beauty of love, even in the hard times, as well as the ability of love to help one leave behind the brokenness. 

      I cannot listen to "Broken Mess" without being reminded of the book of Hosea. God used His prophet Hosea to once again confront Israel about their rebellion and to warn that turning away from Him would ultimately lead to pain and punishment. This had happened before, but this time God chose a new method to communicate His message. He had Hosea become the living embodiment of God's relationship with Israel by telling Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute. For a while the marriage seemed fine, and the couple even had a son together. Eventually though, Gomer left Hosea and returned to prostitution. Even when Hosea went and purchased her back, showing exceeding mercy and patience, the text is ambiguous about whether Gomer remained faithful, or whether the children Gomer bore later were actually Hosea's. Here in the lives of real people God demonstrated how He loved His people, but how they repeatedly turned from Him and returned to their old ways. You would think God would be ticked. I would be. It's now surprising then that the actions of Israel do lead to their punishment. The surprising thing is that ultimately God does not wash His hands of them nor does He beat them into submission; rather God woos His people as a lover. Hosea 2:14, 19-20 and describes this beautifully when God says, "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD." 

     It's easy to look at the history of Israel and say, "what fools! Why was it so hard to just obey?" After all, if God is not only all-powerful and all-knowing, but also all-loving, then it only makes sense that doing what He tells us to do would lead to our greatest good and joy. When you think of it that way, can seem easy to say we should obey. Yet so often we don't. We might not admit it, but at times we think we know better. We take the path we want because we think it will make us happy. It seems right at the time, but it mostly just leads to pain and heartbreak. Yet despite our own foolishness, God doesn't give up on people. In Christmas we celebrate God becoming man, which ultimately led to the supreme expression of love at the cross. Nothing about this journey was clean or easy. Having seen live births before, I can testify that Christ's beginning was a messy ordeal. The crucifixion was much worse. It was messy and filled with indescribable anguish and pain. The carol "What Child is This" describes Christ's birth, but then also looks forward to the crucifixion by saying, "Nails, spears shall pierce him through,/ the cross he bore for me, for you./ Hail, hail the Word made flesh,/ the Babe, the Son of Mary." This is love. This is God God coming to us where we were, right into the mess and the muck, and saying, "I'm willing to give up all and suffer all in order to redeem and reconcile you." The road to the cross began in the cradle, and throughout the entire journey we see God demonstrating the kind of love that is not only patient, but wildly persistent, willing to endure even the worst in order to benefit the beloved. As we look forward to Christmas Day, may we remember the reason why Christ and may we respond with overwhelming love, joy, and gratitude. 

  
     This week I chose four songs to highlight, one of which is not a Christmas carol. I included "What Child is This" not only because I quoted it above, but also because it's one of my favorite Christmas carols. The other two carols I include because I think they both describe the proper response to Christmas in light of God's love. Both wrestle with the question of what we could possibly give to repay God for His gift, and both decide that they have nothing that would be adequate. Thus they give what they can. The singer of "In the Bleak Midwinter" gives their heart, and the Little Drummer Boy uses the talents he's been given and simply plays his best, giving it his all. Lastly, I included a hymn that also describes the proper response to Christmas, though it isn't described as much. The hymn simply describes how our love for God leads is expressed naturally through obedience, and this is a message we can take with us through the rest of the year. 

It seems only fair that, after last week's shout out, I should recognize this week's hand models, Gab and Will, as well as Kaitlyn, who was my hand model for the first week of Advent. I love these people.