Wonder Sparked and Reborn: Love

Wonder Sparked and Reborn • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Central Question: Is there room for love in my heart for love….? What might allow the love of Christ to be reborn in my heart? How do wonder, awe, and imagination help with love being reborn in my heart and life?

Notes

Transcript

Scriptures: 1 John 4: 14-16 Luke 2:7

As we come to a close of advent,

Our series has been focused on Wonder Sparked and Reborn.

The hope of this series Has been to prepare for Christ’s birth intentionally, By focusing on imagination, awe, and gratitude, so that hope, peace, joy and love might be sparked and reborn in our lives.

On this final Sunday, we explore Christ’s love.

And I wonder how might Christ’s love be reborn in our hearts and lives? In a world aching for love. How might Christ’s love be reborn, rekindled, reawakened in us?

Our first reading is from First John chapter 4, verses 14 through 19 Hear the word of the Lord:

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

And from Luke chapter 2 verse 7 and I will be reading the King James Version. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

Loving God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you today. You are our rock and our redeemer. You are the source of our love. Amen.

What is in your basket?

That is what they would say with the popular cooking competition show Chopped? Anybody watch that show? It is a competitive cooking show, and one of the most exciting moments is when the contestants open their mystery baskets And to their surprise reveal a selection of ingredients they must use to create a dish.

Now in their basket they might find an unusual combination like cactus pear, beef tongue, truffle oil, and puffed quinoa… And the challenge of the show, Was to use what is in their basket to create something beautiful.

We actually tried this cooking show in our house. The kdis competing using mystery items.

But as judged we were forced to eat some of hte concotions.

And let’s just say the fruit and meat salad with a yougurt parfait. That was the results were less than appetizing.

Now, let me ask you, again what’s in your basket? Imagine God giving you a basket.

But it is for your life?

And God gives it to you.

And in that basket there is hope, joy, Peace, and love.

It is there…

It is given to you. That is what we believe.

And maybe the challenge of our lives is to be open what God has already given.

And to let that in. To really let joy, peace,.hope and love in your life.

And once in, Our challenge is to create something beautiful with what has been given by God.

But can we see God’s basket of hope, joy, peace, and love. I woder if there are three steps to our journey….

First, we must see what has already been given.

Second, we must receive it. We must let it in

Third, we are invited to create something beautiful with it.

First, we have to see what has been given. What we first learn from 1 John is that this love is given and not earned. It is a love that does not wait for us to become perfect or worthy, but comes down to us where we are, in all our brokenness, our fears, and our failures. The gift is not dependent upon us. But it is God who freely gives. As 1st John will write. It is not because we first loved God but it is because God first loved us. God is the ultimate gift giver.

And It did not have to be this way. And this love, is not distant or abstract; it is manifest in the vulnerable, humble birth of a child in a stable. Think about it: God, the Creator of the universe, chose to enter the world in the most fragile and dependent way possible. Love was reborn in that manger, not in a palace or on a throne, but in a lowly place where animals slept and humble shepherds gathered. God gave God’s very self.

It is already in your basket. But can you see it? Will we unwrap it? Bob Friensen one of our members in our small group. Talked about this gift of God’s love and put it in a poem. With his permission I would like to share it with you.

This last week I got to hear the poem and prayers of one of our own members Bob Friesen. It is entitled the Stranger’s gift. It goes like this.

A recent early morning, appeared to me a stranger, He handed me a present saying: “A gift come from the Manger”

As suddenly as he arrived, a blink and he was gone But in my hands, a box full-wrapped, with bows, and ribbons long

Dismissing it as empty trash, I nearly let it be, But wondering what it content’s held, I set it at the Tree

The time from then til now has sped, and often blurred my focus Without any thought for the Stranger’s gift, alone and most unnoticed

So Christmas now, falls on us all, with music in the air The celebration, loud and long, the love of God declared

The “things” we’ve shared are now unwrapped, but the Stranger’s gift remains “To: You and Yours” it’s label reads; “From; One alone who Reigns”

So gathered now, are one and all, united as to see What lies within, this Stranger’s box, a secret to set free.

The wrapping torn, the prize: a note... in plain and simple hand “Fill all your world with unbound Love, a newborn child commands!”

I pray these words from a Stranger come, may fill us all this hour And build in us, a growing light, of “Peace, and Joy, and Hope and Love..”

How do we unwrap the strangers gift? How do we let this love abide in us?

There is so much that can obscure us from seeing this love.

And here is the challenge we face. I was over by the chic filet et and it said.

“Please be kind to our employees.”

Now there was a reason they put up that sign.

It is because, this love is less apparent in our world.

And maybe it is because we have forgotten that we are loved and called to share that love.

The other day I was walking by a coffee shop and I saw another sign which said “Freshly Grounded.”

And I thought maybe that is what we all need.

We need to be freshly grounded in God’s love.

Each and everyday.

So I tried this.

I tried to remind myself each day.

“I am anchored in Christ’s love.”

I am grounded in Christ love.”

And let me just say it did not make my life perfect but it did help me to be less reactive.

It helped me to let some things go.

It helped me to breathe and trust.

What might you need to say to yourself this day to be “Freshly grounded in Christ’s love.”

I love how first John starts the passage…

Beloved.

Be love. Let God love’s be with you today. Let is dwell inside of you.

Through scripture, prayer, breathing…. Let is be the ground on which you walk.

The very ground of your being.

But you have to make room. For many years at a previous church I helped with the children’s.family service. It was always a lot of fun. I remember we had mary and joseph walk down the isle. And they would stop at some people in their pews in the congregation and they would say, “is there any room for us.” And the people (who were plants) would say, “no room!” They would keep walking and stop again and ask, “is there any room for us” “No room would be the response”

I honestly wonder if we are willing to make room for Jesus in your life. Somehow we have to create room in our lives for God. To let God’s love abide in us. Somehow we have to let this love into our lives. It has to break-in. It has to abide.

To abide is to “dwell,” “remain,” “be present,” and to “be held and kept.” What do we see in the biblbical narrative. Ordinary people who let God into their lives. Seekers and strangers. Saints and sinners. I love hte diversity. We see Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, Elizasbeth, the Shepherds, all saying yes to God. Somehow they said yes in their hearts. They let the presence of God deeper into their lives.

But let’s not forget that First John’s passage is a reminder that love is an action word. The word here is agape. The challenge is the third step. Maybe one way we let this God abide in us, is to share that love with others. Two weeks ago. At hte end of caroling. We had been going strong singing for two plus hours. Honestly, I was pretty tired. But I got encouragement from the group. If they wanted to stop. And just than over at brookdale one of hte nurses asked if we would sing for the memory unit patients. And so we went in. She put in the code. And we sang. And I can tell you that was the most joyous group.

They sand, had hand motions, and thanked us for coming. It is amazing how God shows up. The love we are called to,

The love of God in Christ Jesus.

Is a way of life. It is a self-giving love. And we are called to share it.

What is in your basket? A baby. And in this basket - God gave us his very self. Hope, joy, peace, and love.

It is all there.

Can you see it?

Will you receive it?

And will you create something beautiful with it?

Amen.

Notes:

A particular love:

Agape love -

“love one another” (1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 12), “in this everyone will know” (1 John 2:3, 5; 3:16, 19, 24; 4:2, 13; 5:2)

Christian love as a command more than a feeling, an action more than a state of being, and ultimately a gift of God; it calls those who hear to practical steps towards enacting Christian love in everyday life. - Rev. Peter Story

But for the epistle, the affirmation is not a simple equation. God is love, but love is not God. “Love” is an abstraction and a quality of God’s own self. “Love” is personification and God is person. Love is some thing. God does things, sends a Son, atones for the sins of the world, and gives commands. What the author of 1 John is most worried about is that Christians will think faith is about abstractions like Truth and Love without attending to the crucified one who was and is both loving and true.

Central claim:

We never get beyond God’s love for us in Christ and how that is lived out in love for one another. We are always drawn back to that central, and centering, claim. We know God’s love, first and foremost, in the Son; and we know God’s love because we have witnessed it in love for one another.

Who is God:

If God is exclusively understood as the God of power, or demand, or even justice, then we approach God with fear — both in this life and in the life to come. But if understood first as the God of love, perfect love, then we approach God with confidence. God’s love is perfect and our love is perfected because we trust in God’s love. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). - David Bartlett - NT Prof

God loves in freedom.

Note the sentence carefully. It is not “we ought to love because he first loved us” as if God’s love were the ground for a new imperative. It is “we can love because he first loved us.” God’s love is the ground for a new possibility.

Casts out fear:

He summed up its claims in a classic Coffin aphorism: “The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is fear.”

The new Revised Standard Version says that love casts out fear - a flinging that creates far more than a social distance of six feet between fear and love. The Message translation says that love banishes fear - a fleeing, followed by a blunt, ‘no trespassing sign.’

The place of Fear:

A small child received a jack-in-the box for Christmas and, to the parents’ surprise, was not delighted by the puppet’s popping out but terrified. Not entirely daunted though, the child turned the handle once again until the puppet jumped out again. This time the child kissed the puppet he had feared. The child was far from fearless. But by loving, he sought to put fear in its proper place.

Try thinking of 1 John 4:9b-10 as an explanatory gloss on John 3:16:

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

1 John 4:9b-10 – God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Abiding:

Loving Christians “abide” in God and God “abides in them” (1 John 4:16).

This is our summons. God is love. Be bold. Don’t fear. Share yourself. Do love. This is what will sustain us in unity, strength, and the abiding love of God.

Somehow we have to let this love into our lives. It has to break-in. It has to abide.

To abide is to “dwell,” “remain,” “be present,” and to “be held and kept.”

What is the goal?

Many translations say that God’s love is “perfected” when people love one another (1 John 4:12; cf. 4:17, 18). The Greek words here are based on the word “telos,” which means “goal.” The idea is that God’s love reaches its goal when it creates relationships of love with people and relationships among people. As an abstraction, love falls short of that goal. It is imperfect. When the love of God finds expression in human love, there the goal is reached.

A test for us:

In this section, you again see this litmus test, in verse 8, that, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love." An inability to love others says a lot about us. It's right to sing songs of praise, to pray and to serve, and to be in a small group or attend a Bible study, but if in the midst of this reverence we aren't loving people, something is majorly wrong with our belief and practice.

Fences or Wells:

Love is God’s instrument for binding the world together. There are also other attempts to accomplish this task. Some will try hate to unite people. Some will use fear. Both will work for a season or two. So will suffering and need. But love has enduring power. In contrast, sooner or later hate becomes self-destructive. And the causes of fear, suffering, and need eventually either resolve themselves or fragment into self-interest. But love never ends.

The ranchlands in Australia are so arid that it takes many acres to supply each cow with enough food to survive. So the cattle ranches are not measured in square acres but in square miles. In that far flung environment, fences are impractical. So how does the rancher keep track of the cows? The answer is water wells. As long as fresh water keeps rising from the wells, you never have to worry about where the cows are. Sooner or later, they’ll come back to the well because the well gives life.

Where have I seen God’s transformative love show up?

In an ornament….

Eliza coming home and being so hopeful.

I do feel like I need a heart transplant because of fear.

How do we bring this series to a close….

What is in your basket?

Chopped

You have everything you need….

All that you are given.

How will you use it?

Dream…

As long as man has a dream in his heart, he cannot loose the significance of living.

Where is Jesus staying?

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see."They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.

When you are with me I am free?

Is there room?

Heart expands…How are we going to do this?

Love expands.

Where are you staying?

Love shows up.

Heart transplant

How my heart might need to change?

Hearing the heartbeat

“If the house of the world is dark,love will find a way to make windows.”― Rumi

Freshly grounded.

Dream of Love:

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/advent-2016-worship-series-overview/fourth-sunday-of-advent-a-planning-notes/fourth-sunday-of-advent-a-preaching-notes

A Stranger’s Gift