Advent Week Four: LOVE—Preparing for CHRISTmas 2020
Advent Week Four began yesterday--Sunday, December 20—with the LOVE candle.
This week, we focus our “preparing for Christmas” attention on LOVE—complete and unconditional—originating in God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)—represented fully in Jesus birth, life, ministry, death on the cross for our sins, and resurrection so that we might have abundant and eternal life reconciled to God. Love is represented by a purple candle—sometimes also known as the Angel candle.
This Advent we look to the Wise Men to teach us where to focus our attention. We set our sights on things above, where God is. We draw closer to Jesus... When our Advent journey ends, and we reach the place where Jesus resides in Bethlehem, may we, like the Wise Men, fall on our knees and adore him as our true and only King. --Mark Zimmermann
By his own will Christ was dependent on Mary during Advent: he was absolutely helpless; he could go nowhere but where she chose to take him; he could not speak; her breathing was his breath; his heart beat in the beating of her heart.... In the seasons of our Advent - waking, working, eating, sleeping, being - each breath is a breathing of Christ into the world. --Caryll Houselander
Defining Biblical LOVE: reflect on the following passages. What do they say to you about LOVE?.
Exodus 15:13 In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.
Deuteronomy 10:18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.
Psalm 6:4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
Psalm 13:5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 17:7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.
Psalm 23:6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 26:3 for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.
Psalm 33:5 The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Psalm 40:11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me.
Psalm 42:8 By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 57:10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Psalm 59:16 But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
Psalm 94:18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
Psalm 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Psalm 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
Psalm 119:64 The earth is filled with your love, Lord; teach me your decrees.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
2 Corinthians 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love because he first loved us.
Old Testament reading what do these verses say about the coming Messiah and what kind of Kingdom He brings?
Isaiah 9:2-7
New Testament readings
John 1:1-8 The Word Became Flesh
John 1:9-18
Reflect:
· How does John describe Jesus’ coming into the world? List several things that John calls Jesus. How do those echo the rhythms of our Advent themes?
· So far, as you have read the Messianic prophecies and the Christmas story, where have you see examples of love?
· What does the love of God, in Jesus, mean to you?
· Spend time in prayer, being with God, basking in His love for you, listening to Him about love…
For the rest of Week Four, read and reflect on these Scriptures. What do you notice about God’s love? What do they say about Jesus? About God and His character and promises?
Old Testament readings
Psalm 80:17-19
Psalm 110 Of David. A psalm.
Psalm 136
New Testament readings
Matthew 11:2-11
Romans 1:1-7
Ephesians 2 Made Alive in Christ
Ephesians 3: A Prayer for the Ephesians
1 John 4:
Advent 2020 ends on December 24, Christmas Eve, when the Christ candle (white) is lighted.
May you know the Lord’s
HOPE
PEACE
JOY
And
LOVE
In
CHRIST
This season and always!
Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has also been EquipConnectServe Director at her 1,200 member church since 1999. Contact Shirley.
Photo © Shirley Giles Davis, All Rights Reserved.