3rd Sunday in Advent

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, ESV) [1]

Today our children present the Christmas story through reflecting on the Advent wreath. The Advent wreath was designed to mark each of the four Sundays in the Advent season. Traditionally the candles were 3 purple and 1 pink. Recently the church has decided to change the 3 purple to blue to both distinguish this season from Lent and to represent the hope we have in this season. Each candle usually has a theme tied to it. The more traditional designation was Prophecy, Bethlehem, Angels, and Shepherds in that order. Pink was always the third candle, which represented the theme of this Sunday, which focused on rejoicing. The Angels represent the rejoicing through singing and proclaiming that the Messiah is born to the Shepherds. A newer way of looking at each candle, the one the children are using in their program, is to see each candle representing Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in that order. There is actually no real precedent for labeling each candle and there are many other ways out there. The goal of the Advent wreath was mark each Sunday as we drew closer to the celebration of Christmas and to help us visually prepare for the Christ-child.

Today I want to focus on the Love theme; the Heart of our God is Love. As part of our preparations for Christmas it is important for us to stop and realize why all of this is taking place – because God loves us. Why did God’s Son humble himself and became a man, a baby born to Mary? Because God loves us. Why did Jesus grow up like any other human except without sin and why did He suffer and die on the cross? Because God’s heart is filled with love for us? And why did the Christ rise again and give to us forgiveness and life eternal? Because God loves us.

And this heart of love is illustrated well in our Isaiah passage.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified." (Isaiah 61:1-3, ESV) [Underline added]

Two things are very evident in this passage – first, we are sinners in need of God’s deliverance and second, God loves us so much that he doesn’t leave us in our despair or darkness. The people for whom Isaiah first wrote were people facing physical distress. They were being over run by another nation and were being taken captive. In the midst of this trouble God sends Isaiah to preach “good news.”

It has often been noted that during the holiday season there is more “depression” and sorrow then at other times of the year. Even in the midst of “joyful celebration” we find ourselves downcast. Why? I believe it is because we think we have to feel good at a time that the world and our sinful life creep in. We focus so much on what we need to do to make the holidays right that we forget

that we can’t make ourselves rejoice. We are broken-down and in despair. We are sinful human beings in need of God’s grace. And that is part of our Advent preparations, realizing we are sinful and it is not a matter of making ourselves feel good this holiday season, because we can’t.

So how can we rejoice? What makes the holidays and Christmas a special time of year? By looking into the heart of God and seeing that His love for us is so great that He does not abandon us but sent His one and only Son to be our Savior. Isaiah continues by saying:

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. " (Isaiah 61:10-11, ESV) [2]

We rejoice this Sunday, and throughout our lives, because God loves us and has redeemed us through His Son. Advent is a time to reflect not only on our human condition but on the extravagant love God has for us. Imagine a love that sends its one and only Son into a broken and sin-filled world. A love that allows itself to humble itself and become a man. A love that suffers and dies a horrible death on a cross. A love that breaks the bondage of sin and death and rises again. A love that shares that redemption with the whole world. That is a glimpse into the heart of God to see the love He has for us. Our God loves us so much that if you were the only person to believe in Christ, God still would have completed His plan of salvation! Thanks be to God that many have heard and have received Christ as their Lord and Savior. Our prayer is that many more would come to know Christ and would see Him through our love.

There was a story I heard that I believe illustrates the love of God in this holiday season. A public school was going to hold a Christmas program. In an effort to not offend any religion they took the Bible story of Christmas out of the program and decided to do a generic program about the “spirit of Christmas.” The Theme was “Christmas Love.” Each child would hold up a letter and a few words or songs would be spoken about things like Cheer, Heart, etc. The night of the program everyone gathered in the gym and the children did their best to recite their parts. Each letter was raised – “C H R I S T…” When they got to the “M” an excited little girl raised her letter not realizing it was upside down and read “W”. There were snickers and grins on the audience’s part but the show continued. “W A S L O V E.” As the E was raised a hush came over the crowd. They realized that instead of “CHRISTMAS LOVE” the phrase read, “CHRIST WAS LOVE.” I am sure God was smiling at this situation. In the midst of trying to generalize Christmas and take out the “religious” story, Christ was evident to them. Christ was love and is love for us.

In this season we prepare our hearts by first recognizing that we are sinful and in need of a Savior. We also have opportunity to reflect of God’s heart of love for us, His love that sent His Son, Jesus, to be that babe in Bethlehem. And to grow up and die on the cross for us and rise again so that we could have forgiveness and life eternal with Him. That is the heart of God’s love for us. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, ESV)[3] That is the reason for this season. Rejoice for our Savior has come and will return again some day to take us home to be with Him. God loves you!

Amen

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[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Good News Publishers.

[2] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Good News Publishers.

[3] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (electronic ed.). Wheaton: Good News Publishers.