A Journey Through Advent: Day 23
Day 23
December 21, 2020
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The Face of Love
Pastor Kelsey Lewis Vincent
Have you ever learned about the five love languages? Pastor and author Gary Chapman developed the idea that each of us gives and receives outward expressions of love in a variety of ways and he has narrowed them down to five possibilities: Acts of Service, Gifts, Quality Time, Touch, and Words of Affirmation.
I’m a “Quality Time” person myself and my husband is an “acts of service” guy. I’ll come home to find he has cleaned the house while I was out or he has made us an elaborate cheese plate. After dinner, I suggest we walk the dog together and talk about our day.
Whatever your love language, you may feel like this year’s Christmas season may not be the overflowing season of love that you have experienced in years past. You may not get as many hugs, spend as much quality time with loved ones, or have the budget for lots of gifts this year, etc. But the LOVE week of Advent first and foremost celebrates God’s love for us, and God’s love language doesn’t fit neatly inside any of these human categories.
God’s love is revealed at Advent in the incarnation of Christ, that is, God’s desire to be WITH us. Well, you and I are not physically with Jesus, since his incarnation happened 2000+ years ago, but we recognize that the “with-ness” that God assumed in the incarnation was not merely a physical togetherness, but a solidarity in life’s highs and lows.
Christ’s incarnation isn’t just about being physically present, or else that incarnation would not matter much after his passing and ascension into heaven. The importance of the incarnation was that God wanted to be a part of the world God created, to experience the human life, and to bring his presence into even the mundane, even the pain, even the sadness of it.
So here we are in 2020 and the Incarnation still matters and still has relevance, not because Jesus sits in the same room as us, but because his presence in our experience redeems even the darkest and thorniest parts of our journey here on earth. Immanuel, God WITH us, is God’s love language.
This is a beautiful truth to carry into the holiday season this year when you can’t physically be with the people you may be longing to see. You can’t physically be together, but the experience of solidarity, of knowing that you and your loved ones, and yes, even Christ Jesus himself are all in this together — that’s the Love language that all of us can speak.
As you go through perhaps a rollercoaster of emotions, know that you need not suffer alone because God inhabits even sadness and loneliness with you. So may you know that though you may feel lonely, your church family, your loved ones around the world, and your God are all in this together!
About a Journey Through Advent
This year is unprecedented in its challenges to our global, national, and local communities, let alone the challenges to our own church community and personal spiritual growth. And yet, the rhythm of the church calendar continues to hold us in a life-giving refrain: hope is alive!
This series of devotional readings, scripture readings, and prayers is designed to give you an opportunity to pause and reflect on the hope, peace, joy, and love that the Advent season brings.
We challenge you to set aside time each day to read, reflect, and pray through these offerings presented by our pastoral staff.
May you find encouragement in the remarkable hope this season provides us!