December 16, 2021
Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.
- Psalm 136:26
“God is Love.” We hear that at church and elsewhere. That’s a big thought. So big that we may hear it, agree with it, and then our thoughts return to the tasks at hand.
“God is Love” is a massive puzzle. I’m afraid this time we can’t start with the flat edge pieces. We just don’t have the table for it. But we can see identifying pieces to get part of the picture.
Love is: A young or old couple holding hands. Hands helping a young one start to walk. A hand on a shoulder. Hands giving wine and bread for communion. Holding a hand by a hospital bed. A handwritten note saying that you’re thinking of them.
The Christmas season can be joyous, stressful, heart-warming, costly, happy, lonely. But most of all Christmas is Love. God’s limitless love. Unlimited love we too have. This is what separates us from the rest of earth’s inhabitants.
In my twenty years working in a church running microphones and PowerPoints for hundreds of funerals, no friend or family member during a remembrance has ever listed things they got from the deceased at Christmas. Instead, they create a picture from puzzles pieces of support, challenges, memories, selflessness, and love.
Whether you are surrounded by family members or only the memories of those members, may you embrace the presence of God that surrounds you. That’s where another puzzle piece of Love is.
Reflection
How can I hear the whisper of true Christmas over the noise of the Christmas season?
Prayer
Thank you, Lord for the radical and profound love you show us in the Christmas story. Amen.
Fred Lilleboe
