Looking at Romans 13:8-14 for this week, and how it flows and forms into the week's worship theme of Hope...that next year, things will be different. For those who have been hunting for a "real" job for well over a year, for those who dream of the day when they can go to the doctor and not also go a step closer to bankruptcy, for those who await pathology reports, diagnosis and treatment, for those who fear daily the bullies in workplace and school, for those who are caught in the sandwich generation, raising children and caring for elderly parents, for those who have lost a significant relationship and see no "up" sign in sight, for those whose earnings regularly run out before the end of the month, for those who wonder what they'll feed their children tonight, for those who wonder how many gunshots will ring through their neighborhood tonight, or which loved one will come down with cholera...hope that next year, things will be different.
Love is the word for a relationship between people. Christian love is the kind of love in which I'm concerned for others and do what needs to be done to make their lives complete. The Greek word is agape. It is giving-love. It's the love that the Bible is concerned with when it tells us to "love others." This is the love Paul uses as the key to making our ethical decisions. If we put this love in the driver's seat, we'll be able to make decisions that will produce a Christian life that's pleasing to God. We see this new love in Jesus. By looking at him, we can find out just how love shapes ethical decisions. Jesus, it would seem, was oblivious to rules and regulations in his decision making. His question was always, "How can I act so that this person becomes the person God wants him to be?" Eugene Peterson
Run up the huge debt of love you owe one another. Complete what the law has said all along. Don't lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. Is it possible to be oblivious to God if we are living by the love ethic? I would doubt it. If we are living "in love", chances are we are awake to what God is doing. I would like to think that is so. Don't squander in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get with it! Dress yourselves in Christ (which would naturally be love), and be up and about!
So what's that have to do with Christmas, and the anticipation of the Advent season? Am I loving my daughter if I simply indulge her with all of her "must-haves" on her Christmas list? How am I preparing her to love others and receive love from others if it's so tied to material things? How do I deepen her holiday awareness? How do we focus on love made flesh, by becoming love in the flesh during this waiting time? We will find ways. We will make time. We will be changed.
The 18 year old in the video. She was 14 when she began. How do we inspire children of God, both young and old, to reach out and make a difference? I've got to start at home, in me, in my home. What needs to change so that God can move through me? Critical spirit, be gone! And be gone again...help me to see the good, all of it, long before I see the bad, long before I judge and become critical. Help me to believe the best, so that I and others might become our best. Help me love others into a new creation, even as I am being newly created day by day.
All for now...
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