#58 God Is Love: A Christmas Gift For You.

It's been three years since we've gone home for Christmas to be with my extended family, Covid. You know. And I anticipate warm wood-burning fires and fabulous food. Cause we are all foodies. My younger siblings have young kids --- you know it's the kiddos that make Christmas; their excitement and wonder are contagious. So I'm excited to be with them. But I'd be remiss if I left you with this Norman Rockwell image of my family. Because well, like most of you, my families got stuff and it can blow up, on Christmas. So there's that too. Isn't this the accurate picture of life, Tov and Ra, good and bad all mixed in? One of the ways I'm trying to prepare my heart this season is by thinking about God as love. And Jesus Christ is the God among us. We've all heard the familiar passages read during this season, like Matthew 1:23 "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'" God with us is a big deal. What's even more significant is God is love; that's what John tells us (1 John 4). When I hear "God is love," I tend to go to the cross as the ultimate act of love, and it is, but I think I've so focused on that event that I've minimized the importance of God the incarnation, God in the flesh, God with us. And God is love.