Love Came Down
December 25 - Christmas Day, Fourth Wednesday of Advent
Light first (Hope) and second (Peace) purple candles, the pink (Joy) candle, the fourth (Love) purple candle and the white (Christ) candle in the center of the wreath
Today’s the day! Christmas is finally here!! If you have a house full of children, then you were most likely up late last night, putting toy bikes and kitchen sets together, wrapping those gifts that were hidden all over the house and placing them under the Christmas tree. You’ve probably been up since before daylight with children or grandchildren awake and excited to see what’s waiting for them under the tree.
As exhausted as you may be this morning, you’d gladly go without sleep and put together hundreds of riding toys just to see the look of joy and amazement cross the faces of your darlings. Why? Because of the love that you have for your children and grandchildren. There truly is nothing like it. Even when they are fussy or disrespectful or hurting and lash out rebelliously, you love them and delight in giving them good gifts. God loves His children infinitely more than we could possibly love, so much so that His love for us came down at Christmas.
Read 1 John 4:7-21
Love Came Down at Christmas, Christina Georgina Rossetti (1885)
Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?
Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.
In this disarmingly simple poem, Christina Rossetti managed to evoke the emotions of the manger scene in Bethlehem without actually describing it, yet moving the reader deeper into it.
The phrase “Love all lovely, Love divine” has the intimacy of a welcome whispered to a newborn baby and simultaneously reveals the unfathomable mystery of God at work. Rossetti’s lines, suggesting 1 John 4:7-11, somehow get closer to the human experience of the first Christmas and the bond between the holy child and his mother.
The second verse ends with an archaic phrase, “but wherewith for sacred sign?” It echoes the end of the first verse, “Star and angels gave the sign.” A sign of God’s presence in Bethlehem was given to the wise men by a star and to the shepherds by singing angels. But how will that sign now be shown? How is God’s love incarnate through Jesus revealed today? God’s love, which we are given and in turn give to others, is the sign that God is present now, in His people, His church, as in Bethlehem.
Some of us are ending this Advent season with great joy and thankfulness, enjoying the peace, hope and love that God has lavished on us through His Son. And some of us are barely hanging on to Jesus through overwhelming waves of grief, despair, failure, broken relationships, or unfulfilled dreams. We are in the dark shadows that death casts, paralyzed by fear, unable to see the way out.
Regardless of what our circumstances or emotions are screaming, we believe the truths of 1 John 4: “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him…if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another…if we love one another, God remains in us and His love is made complete in us.” (from verses 9-12)
Reflect on why we love our children, our spouses, our parents, siblings, extended family, church family and community. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) How can you be an extension of God’s love for you to those around you today?
Sing the first, second and third verses/choruses of Sing We the Song of Emmanuel:
Sing we the song of Emmanuel
This the Christ who was long foretold
Lo in the shadows of Bethlehem
Promise of dawn now our eyes behold
God Most High in a manger laid
Lift your voices and now proclaim
Great and glorious Love has come to us
Join now with the hosts of heaven
Come we to welcome Emmanuel
King who came with no crown or throne
Helpless He lay the Invincible
Maker of Mary now Mary’s son
O what wisdom to save us all
Shepherds sages before Him fall
Grace and majesty what humility
Come on bended knee adore Him
Go spread the news of Emmanuel
Joy and peace for the weary heart
Lift up your heads for your King has come
Sing for the Light overwhelms the dark
Glory shining for all to see
Hope alive let the gospel ring
God has made a way He will have the praise
Tell the world His name is Jesus
(REPEAT)
Pray the first chorus of Sing We the Song of Emmanuel: God Most High in a manger laid; lift your voices and now proclaim: Great and glorious Love has come to us; join now with the hosts of heaven!
Blessings,
Gay B Brown