Love

It is the time of the year when we receive annual greetings from friends around the world. And as those greetings arrive we are struck by how fortunate we are. First of all, we have friends who are understanding and patient with us. We never get our Christmas letters sent before Christmas. With our attention focused on church activities, this has always been a very busy time for us and we have fallen into the pattern of completing our annual greeting in the weeks after Christmas. Our friends seem to understand and accept our tardiness while still remaining our friends.

As each card or letter arrives we are touched by the memories of people who have come to be so important in our lives. A seminary classmate, who we knew for two years nearly 50 years ago has remained a very close friend. His family has visited us here in the US and we have visited them in Australia, but those visits have been infrequent. However, our connections are so strong that we can pick up deep and meaningful conversation any time we meet. Skype and FaceTime allow us to have more conversations these days than we did for years, but the connection is beyond technology. We will be steadfast friends whatever happens in our lives. We have shared the news of loss and grief as well as the celebrations of birth and marriage over the years.

A member of the search committee that called us to our first position as ministers after we graduated from seminary still inspires us. He and his wife were just 40 when we met, with teenage children. Now they are in their 80’s. They still live in the home where they hosted a time for us to meet members fo the congregation before we received the call to serve the church. It is the same home where our family was hosted overnight before we drove away from that town, moving to a new city and a new call to ministry. We have been friends and enjoyed each other’s company over the decades, keeping up with each other’s children and grandchildren. They have great grandchildren as well. There are so many differences in our lives. They live in the the same town where they grew up. We have moved from state to state. I suspect that we have rarely voted the same in any election. But we are deep friends and our lives touch each other and we delight in news from them.

A woman who was a young single mother when she and I set up the first computer data base to keep track of church membership in our congregation in Idaho has gone on to have a successful and meaningful career with the US Forest Service. Her faith shines through her greetings. Just a sentence or two posted by her on FaceBook reminds us of how solidly grounded she is in her values. Just as she was shaped by the church, our notion of what it means to be part of a church community is shaped by her life and witness.

The cards from South Dakota zip codes touch deep and powerful memories for us of people who live their faith in service to others. We have shared mission and ministry and learned to work side by side. We have found such joy in the stories of their families. We have shared so much faith together.

I could go on and on, and I hesitate to stop because some of the writers of those cards are readers of my journal and our connections and shared faith run deep. I don’t want to leave anyone out. Each card is a reminder of how we have been loved and supported by people of faith on every step of our life’s journeys.

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent - the Sunday that we light the candle of Love. At our church we’ll have a Christmas pageant, one of the first opportunities for children and youth of the church to participate in leading the congregation since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. We are eager to see the children in costume and to hear their offerings of music and voice, even though we know we will have to keep our distance and gather in the sanctuary with open windows and face masks. And we will think and speak of love.

Love transcends human limitations. As we read in the letter to the church at Corinth, “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never dies.” Love is the core of our faith. We declare that God is love. And, as Christians, we affirm that we know about God because of the love we have been allowed to share with others. Love incarnate in the lives of others is what we celebrate at Christmas.

It is on this Sunday that we will once again hear the words of Mary’s love song. The story of our people records this wonderful song of love made real in justice for all people. We read the story of how two women, each pregnant with her first child, get together and share the joys and expectations of waiting for the birth of those children. They do not yet fully know what it means to be mothers. They have to engage their imaginations about what is about to happen to them. And, in their imaginations, they share their conviction that their children and the love they have for their children will make a difference in the world. They imagine that their children are linked to hope for those who have been oppressed and downtrodden. They sing together a song of peace and justice for all. And from their imaginations springs a song and a story that our people have been telling for thousands of years. It is the story of love that is stronger than time and distance - of love that never dies. We call it the magnificat - Mary’s song of love.

How wonderful it is that we live in the midst of that love. How amazing it is that we will dwell in that love forever. How powerful it is to have a season each year to remind us of that love. May you feel the love of this season today and every day.

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