Sue O’Donnell. 19.01.21
“Love is our Lord’s meaning. Before God made us He loved us, which love was never abated and never will be. And in this love He has done all His works, and in this love He has made all things profitable to us, and in this love our life is everlasting...In this love we have our beginning and in
this love shall we see in God without end.” (St Julian of Norwich)
This love is ours to claim!
Ours to name in Christ Jesus,
The Saviour born to us at Christmas,
Our fully joyous celebration annually.
For the Baby born to Mary
Was none other than the One,
The holy Son, our Father of love,
Out of His love, sends to us.
Jesus comes as Saviour and Teacher
He is the Light of the world,
Able to eradicate sin’s darkness,
Jesus is the Bread of Life,
Gifting us a foretaste of heavenly joy.
Both as a royal Baby, He necessitates
Our full respect and honour as is rightful.
“She (wisdom) will raise Him high above His neighbours, and in full assembly she will open His mouth. He will find happiness and a crown of joy, He will inherit an everlasting name.” (Ecclesiasticus 15 v 5, 6 TNJB)
Our reverence for this love, must be expressed.
This love is such as the world had never known.
Born into the royal house of King David,
Jesus is the promised Messiah.
Messiah and Saviour, He changes history.
His birth by the Holy Spirit,
Is a most marvellous mystery to be pondered.
But what we can see, surely,
Is that this named royal Baby
Is entirely this love our Father offers us.
The world having run off track
In all its self-centred, arrogant, dominant sinfulness.
We needed somebody to call us back,
And this person could not just be anybody.
“...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2 v 10,11)
Only the Son of God was sufficiently holy.
Jesus comes to us as this love, a gift,
To lift up our heart and mind to find
Not just any answer to sins’ difficulty,
But the perfect answer, because the answer
Is in itself holy, full of wisdom and truth.
This love then is active, directive and effective,
This love as shown us by Jesus as Lord.
The Word of God who lives, dies and rises again,
All for us, this love at the † accomplishing
What we alone, could not and would not do.
This love is our salvation coming from Christ Jesus
Who wins forgiveness for us by His love
Taken to the † as a willing sacrifice.
“And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isaiah 35 v 10)
Now all of this truth is so breathtaking,
A fact stronger by far than any fiction,
This love has to be taught us again by holiness.
For this reason we need the Holy Spirit’s impact,
His influence is His love too, again emanating
Directly from the will of our merciful Father.
This love of the Father dictates life be given to us,
For He is the Lord of the living accomplished in Jesus.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit act as One.
One in this love, one in purpose achieving holiness for us.
One in the message of this love as the death of sinfulness,
A holy love which wins forgiveness for us.
It is this love we did celebrate at Christmas.
How truly wondrous! This love is most marvellous!
“You, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (Jude 20, 21)
“How can a young (wo)man cleanse his (her) way? By taking heed according to Your word.” (Psalm 119 v 9)
O Lord, Eternal Father, out of this love You hold out to us, let it be that during all seasons of the church year, we make such a sound spiritual time of preparation to receive our Saviour, we will by prayer and effort
be able to claim “With my whole heart I have sought You.” (v 10)
Let us give thanks for the input of the Holy Spirit, always directing our attention to the Lord Jesus as Saviour, this love through which we receive Your mercy. Let us then keep praying with all praise and thanksgiving for our pleas will be heard and answered.
Let this love we have in response to You, be determined as we say “Let me not wander from Your commandments,” (Cont) for we rejoice to be made one of the Lord Jesus’ good works in progress and ask that nothing we do or say will ever mar this. Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
Key Themes
LOVE
