*This will be the last Praying the Psalms of 2017. I will return with them the first week of January.*
But let’s get to the point, Christmas is coming, but we are still in that place of waiting. December 24th with be a roller coaster for many, especially ministers who, in the same day, must shift gears from Advent in the morning to Christmas Eve in the afternoon and evening.
The impulse is to rush, I think, or at least that is the feeling that I have been having as the days march on. That impulse to jump right into the scene at the manger takes us out of the journey that we are on, a journey that includes the last and probably greatest Sunday of Advent: Love Sunday.
The love that we are celebrating this Sunday morning, and indeed the Love that we celebrate every Sunday, is the deep love that God has for creation. It is a love so deep that, in the fullness of time, God broke into creation in the form of a child to live and walk among us. Though this was an act that happened in a place at a time, that act sent waves through creation and across time. The birth is not something that just happened, but something that is happening now and will happen again.
What a love with which we are loved.
Let us pray
Psalm 96:1-4
O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
You, O God, are love and life eternal. You come into our lives and show us a way. You shine a light like a star above and before us. Be with us as night closes in around us, as love is born before our eyes. Guide us through the end of this year into a year of new beginnings and new hope, hope that comes to the lowly and the least, lifting us all to the glory of God’s embrace. AMEN