Church in the Windshield
4th Sunday of
Advent
Today is the forth Sunday in Advent and we light a fourth candle. The first candle was the HOPE candle, the second candle was the PEACE candle; the third candle was the JOY candle. This forth candle is the LOVE candle.
Matthew 22:36-40
(NIV)
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The
Advent journey has been so meaningful . . . so powerful. Sheron and I chose not
to travel during this Advent season. Instead, we chose to pick one of the
churches that we had written about in the blog; attend that church for the
Advent and then travel again. This, it
seems may become a tradition and each year we will pick a church from the blog in
which to spend the Advent. Perhaps it will be your church next year. All of the churches that we have attended
have been so wonderful and so inspiring; it made for a tough choice. This
year’s Advent church was the Otterbein United Methodist Church in Russell,
Kansas.
Ponder
for a moment the Advent spiritual journey. We start with hope on the first
Sunday; hope is the stepping stone that allows us to be open and receptive to
spirit of God. Where there is hope,
there is peace . . . the second candle. Peace is “heart healthy” both
spiritually and physically.
Painted
on a building just outside of Topeka as we travel east on Interstate 70 is a
huge sign that says. “NO GOD NO PEACE . .
. KNOW GOD KNOW PEACE.” Every time, I see that sign, I think, stop worrying
about the things you cannot change and ALIEVE
it to God.
When
there is peace in our lives, we have joy and that is so freeing . . . so
cleansing . . . so exhilarating. It reminds me of that old time chorus, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like
a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul. You probably don’t
want me to sing that for you.
The
candle that we light for the forth Sunday in Advent is the love candle. Because
of love, we give to God to each other and to those around us in need. This past
year, we have tried to give as much as possible to those in need like the
following scripture says:
In
everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the
weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
In
our journey of giving though, we have been surprised at least three times and
they all happened in restaurants. We would be dining, visiting and doing the
normal restaurant stuff. We would go to
the cashier to pay and find that someone across the room that we never met or
never knew . . . paid for our meal. Do we have an explanation . . . no? Can we
predict that it will happen again . . . no?
All we can say is like the song, “thank you Lord for your blessing on me
(us).”
Until
next time, cling to the hope, walk in peace, express the joy and share the
love.
Ron
& Sheron
No comments:
Post a Comment