WEBVTT 00:00:02.819 --> 00:00:06.759 Eskenawson, don't you get it? God moved next 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:18.519 door. Hey, this week on the Semiseminary, and 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:21.399 we arrive at the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, 00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:24.339 the Candle of Love, but not the Hallmark kind, 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:27.559 not the feeling you fall into and climb out of. 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:31.440 We're talking about love that moves in. Love 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:34.299 that takes on weight. In this episode titled, 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:38.100 When Love Refuses to Stay Abstract, we open the 00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:41.500 gospel of John and listen as eternity puts on 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:45.119 skin. This isn't sentiment. This is incarnation. 00:00:45.619 --> 00:00:49.899 The word became flesh and that changes everything. 00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:53.500 Now, wherever you're listening from, your kitchen, 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:56.119 your commute, the dark quiet of a late night, 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:59.729 I want you to imagine something real. You're 00:00:59.729 --> 00:01:01.850 stepping into a small town church on the Sunday 00:01:01.850 --> 00:01:05.170 before Christmas. Four creeks under old boots. 00:01:05.250 --> 00:01:07.730 The air smells like coffee and winter coats. 00:01:08.409 --> 00:01:11.250 Few kids are squirming in the pews and someone 00:01:11.250 --> 00:01:13.530 you've known your whole life just nodded your 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:18.090 way. It's not fancy, but it's sacred. Because 00:01:18.090 --> 00:01:20.310 in this place, the word is still becoming flesh 00:01:20.310 --> 00:01:23.549 every time we make room for it. So settle in. 00:01:23.950 --> 00:01:26.569 Let your heart listen like it's in that room 00:01:26.569 --> 00:01:29.980 with us because love is about to show up. And 00:01:29.980 --> 00:01:38.540 I'll see you on the other side. Okay, buds. We, 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:44.120 my church friends, we have made it. Four candles 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:47.939 on the wreath. Hope, peace, joy. This morning, 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.560 the last one before Christmas, love. And I want 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.620 to say this right off the bat carefully because 00:01:55.620 --> 00:02:01.469 I think love might be... The most overworked 00:02:01.469 --> 00:02:07.469 word in our language. The world uses it constantly, 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:16.449 but almost never precisely. We love pizza. We 00:02:16.449 --> 00:02:19.669 love weekends. We love our kids. We love the 00:02:19.669 --> 00:02:22.330 idea of justice as long as it doesn't really 00:02:22.330 --> 00:02:27.449 cost us anything. We love with words that don't 00:02:27.449 --> 00:02:30.939 cost us anything. with gestures that keep us 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:36.000 comfortable. World talks about love as a feeling 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.400 that you fall into or climb out of, a preference, 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:46.159 a vibe, a branding strategy. Love, according 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.719 to the world, is something you express when it's 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:52.259 convenient and retract when it becomes uncomfortable. 00:02:53.379 --> 00:02:58.580 It's something you feel. Until you don't feel 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:06.919 it anymore. Then, you're free to walk away. But 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:11.659 Advent keeps refusing to let us use love in the 00:03:11.659 --> 00:03:16.960 abstract. Because Advent insists that love doesn't 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:24.039 stay an idea. Love shows up. Love moves in. Love 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:29.479 takes on weight. And by the time we've got to 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:32.659 the fourth candle, Advent has quietly dismantled 00:03:32.659 --> 00:03:38.159 every counterfeit the world has to offer. Hope 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:43.080 didn't come as optimism. It came as a child. 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:49.219 Peace didn't come as just calmness. It came from 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:54.060 a shoot coming out of a stump. Joy doesn't arrive 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:58.039 to us as entertainment. As recognition before 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:06.060 comprehension. And now, love. Not sentiment. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:14.460 Not romance. Not slogans. Love arrives as the 00:04:14.460 --> 00:04:20.910 word made flesh. So. Before we rush to Christmas 00:04:20.910 --> 00:04:24.350 morning, because the moment we step out of those 00:04:24.350 --> 00:04:27.750 doors, I know every single one of us will start 00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:31.410 rushing towards Christmas again. Before we rush 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:34.629 to mangers and to carols and to wrapping paper, 00:04:34.730 --> 00:04:39.110 Advent slows us down one last time and says, 00:04:39.310 --> 00:04:45.310 if you want to understand love, you have to look 00:04:45.310 --> 00:04:50.949 where God chose to dwell. So let's do that. Let's 00:04:50.949 --> 00:04:55.910 do it together. Now, right off the bat, I believe 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:58.930 if you're writing the story, this is not how 00:04:58.930 --> 00:05:04.310 you do it. You don't introduce love by talking 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:09.329 about eternity. You don't begin a birth story 00:05:09.329 --> 00:05:13.709 by reaching all the way back to before time itself. 00:05:15.230 --> 00:05:18.620 You don't. talk about flesh by starting with 00:05:18.620 --> 00:05:25.360 the word. And yet, that is exactly what the apostle 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:32.740 John does. In the beginning, not Bethlehem, not 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:36.439 Nazareth, not Mary. In the beginning, before 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:46.300 manger, before starlight, before breath. John 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:50.699 pulls the camera all the way back to creation 00:05:50.699 --> 00:05:54.879 itself and says, if you want to understand what 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.079 is about to happen, you need to understand who 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:06.240 has always been. The word with God was God. And 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.259 everything else that exists, everything that 00:06:09.259 --> 00:06:14.759 breathes, burns, blooms, breaks, came into being. 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:19.410 Through the word. And this, friends, is not soft 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:23.269 language. This is cosmic language. And then, 00:06:23.290 --> 00:06:26.709 almost without warning, John brings it crashing 00:06:26.709 --> 00:06:33.050 down to earth. The word became flesh. Not idea. 00:06:33.110 --> 00:06:40.389 Not metaphor. Not illusion. Flesh. Muscle. Bone. 00:06:40.509 --> 00:06:44.779 Skin that can bruise. Lungs that can fill and 00:06:44.779 --> 00:06:48.620 empty. A body that can be touched and wounded. 00:06:50.279 --> 00:06:54.160 And then John uses a word that matters more than 00:06:54.160 --> 00:07:00.540 we usually notice. The word dwelt among us. The 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:07.560 word there in Greek is eskinosin. It means pitched 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:11.279 a tent. Tabernacled is actually what the word 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:16.740 means. Moved in, took up residence. What does 00:07:16.740 --> 00:07:22.000 that mean for us outside of the abstract? God 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.560 didn't shout love down from heaven. God didn't 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:31.160 mail out love from a distance. God didn't outsource 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.839 love to the angels. God moved into the neighborhood. 00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:42.750 That's where Advent takes its final stand. Friends, 00:07:42.810 --> 00:07:47.069 tune your ears to the reading of the gospel account 00:07:47.069 --> 00:07:50.670 according to John, the first chapter of his gospel 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:54.149 account, beginning verse 1. In the beginning 00:07:54.149 --> 00:07:58.310 was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 00:07:58.310 --> 00:08:02.709 the Word was God. He was in the beginning with 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:06.149 God. All things came into being through him. 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:11.360 and without him not one thing came into being. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.259 What has come to being in him was life, and the 00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:20.259 life was the light of all people. The light shines 00:08:20.259 --> 00:08:23.399 in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:28.160 it. There was a man sent from God whose name 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.779 was John. He came as a witness. To testify to 00:08:33.779 --> 00:08:36.539 the light so that all might believe through him. 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:39.840 He himself was not the light, but he came to 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:44.379 testify to the light. The true light which enlivens 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:48.159 everyone was coming into the world. He was in 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.879 the world and the world came into being through 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:59.100 him. Yet the world did not know him. He came 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:05.009 to what was his own. And his own people did not 00:09:05.009 --> 00:09:09.029 accept him. But to all who received him, who 00:09:09.029 --> 00:09:13.610 believed his name, he gave power to become children 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:17.289 of God. Who were born not of blood or of the 00:09:17.289 --> 00:09:19.730 will of the flesh or of the will of man, but 00:09:19.730 --> 00:09:25.009 of God. And the word became flesh and lived among 00:09:25.009 --> 00:09:31.490 us. We have seen the glory. Glory as of a father's 00:09:31.490 --> 00:09:38.340 only son. Full of grace and truth. This is the 00:09:38.340 --> 00:09:42.980 words of the Lord. And I wonder if you hear it. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:48.460 Not just the poetry of it, but the scandal lying 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:54.159 beneath it. He came to what was his own and his 00:09:54.159 --> 00:10:02.179 own people did not accept him. Love showed up. 00:10:04.269 --> 00:10:10.190 And was refused. That's not a footnote. That's 00:10:10.190 --> 00:10:13.450 the hinge to the whole story. The creator of 00:10:13.450 --> 00:10:18.129 everything entered creation. And creation said, 00:10:18.350 --> 00:10:23.809 no thank you. The hands that shaped mountains 00:10:23.809 --> 00:10:27.669 came to touch human skin. And human skin pulled 00:10:27.669 --> 00:10:33.919 away. The voice that spoke light into existence 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:37.299 came to speak grace into human ears, and those 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:45.799 ears refused to listen. And still, still, the 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:50.419 word became flesh. Love didn't wait for acceptance. 00:10:50.860 --> 00:10:54.480 Love doesn't require readiness. Love didn't demand 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:00.820 a clean place to land. Love came anyway. That's 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:05.220 the part that wrecks me every single time. This 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:08.159 is not love that responds to our worthiness. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.580 This is a love that creates worthiness by arriving. 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:18.399 This is love that says, I know you're not ready, 00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:23.360 but I'm coming anyway. So let me ask you something 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:28.899 gently. These are tough times, holidays. When 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:33.460 you hear the word love, what rises up in you? 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:41.820 Warmth? Suspicion? Fatigue? Because for some 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:48.200 of us, love is exhausting. Something we are expected 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:55.360 to give endlessly. Something that keeps demanding 00:11:55.360 --> 00:12:03.879 more. Without ever resting us. You've been told 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:10.820 love is sacrifice. And it is. Somewhere along 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:13.519 the way, you started believing that sacrifice 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.980 meant emptying yourself until there's nothing 00:12:16.980 --> 00:12:20.799 left. That love meant giving and giving and giving 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:23.799 and giving until you can't remember the last 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:31.320 time somebody gave to you. And for others, love 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:37.220 feels unsafe. Because love once came with strings 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:43.759 or conditions or disappointment. Maybe, maybe 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.860 you grew up in a house where love was a currency 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:51.679 used to control you. Where approval was given 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:55.909 or withdrawn based on your performance. Where 00:12:55.909 --> 00:13:00.029 you learned early on that love was something 00:13:00.029 --> 00:13:05.750 that you had to earn, not receive. Maybe people 00:13:05.750 --> 00:13:10.389 who said they loved you also hurt you. Maybe 00:13:10.389 --> 00:13:14.649 the word itself feels like a trap now. Promise 00:13:14.649 --> 00:13:23.919 never really delivers. For some of us, Love feels 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.340 abstract because you rarely experience it embodied, 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:34.419 stayed with, showed up, refused to leave. You've 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:37.580 heard people say the words, but the words never 00:13:37.580 --> 00:13:41.080 really took on weight with you. The words never 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:44.759 really moved in. The words walked out when things 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:51.500 got hard. So when the church lights the candle 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:55.539 of love, Some of you aren't thinking about romance 00:13:55.539 --> 00:14:02.019 or joy. You're thinking, can I trust this? And 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:07.940 this is an honest question. And God doesn't answer 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:12.679 it with just more words. Advent answers that 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:18.779 question with a body. Now let's be honest. This 00:14:18.779 --> 00:14:23.440 is where love usually breaks down for us. Because 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:27.139 the world trains us to think love as intention 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:32.159 without incarnation. I love you, but don't ask 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:36.379 me to stay. I care, but don't ask me to change. 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:41.019 I support you, but I don't want to be inconvenienced. 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:45.799 Sound familiar? The world's version of love is 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:50.710 safe, abstract, and controllable. It's love you 00:14:50.710 --> 00:14:54.409 can express at a distance. Love that never requires 00:14:54.409 --> 00:14:57.909 proximity. Love that sounds good on a greeting 00:14:57.909 --> 00:15:01.429 card, but dissolves when it has to walk through 00:15:01.429 --> 00:15:04.309 a hospital room or sit through a hard conversation 00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:06.750 or stay up throughout the night with someone 00:15:06.750 --> 00:15:12.389 who is falling apart. It's love that can remain 00:15:12.389 --> 00:15:15.440 theoretical. Love that doesn't have to enter 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:18.600 into conflict. Love that doesn't risk rejection. 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:23.700 Love that doesn't get its hands dirty. And sometimes, 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:27.480 friends, if we are honest, that version of love 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:31.659 sneaks right into the church as well. We talk 00:15:31.659 --> 00:15:36.600 about love, but we keep it vague. We preach love, 00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:40.779 but we don't let it interrupt us. We celebrate 00:15:40.779 --> 00:15:45.690 love. but we refuse its weight. We're happy singing 00:15:45.690 --> 00:15:48.490 about love on Sunday morning. We're less happy 00:15:48.490 --> 00:15:52.509 when love asks us to sit with someone whose politics 00:15:52.509 --> 00:15:58.049 makes us uncomfortable. Or when love asks us 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:01.889 to forgive someone that hurt us deeply. Or... 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:05.820 When love asks us to stay in a difficult marriage, 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:08.519 a difficult friendship, a difficult community. 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:15.320 Because incarnate love costs something. Because 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.360 flesh can be wounded. Presence can be rejected. 00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:26.360 Proximity can be painful. And the world would 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.840 much rather talk about love than receive it. 00:16:31.049 --> 00:16:36.049 From a God who gives it. John refuses here to 00:16:36.049 --> 00:16:40.289 let love be vague. He tells us exactly what it 00:16:40.289 --> 00:16:45.250 looks like. Love looks like the eternal word 00:16:45.250 --> 00:16:50.929 refusing to stay disembodied. Love looks like 00:16:50.929 --> 00:16:56.990 God choosing vulnerability over distance. Love 00:16:56.990 --> 00:17:02.019 looks like divine glory. wrapped in ordinary 00:17:02.019 --> 00:17:06.759 flesh. John says, and the word became flesh and 00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:12.180 lived among us, and we have seen his glory. Notice, 00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:16.859 seen, not inferred. This isn't love that has 00:17:16.859 --> 00:17:20.700 somehow been deduced by logic. It's love that 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:24.660 we have witnessed. Then John says something almost 00:17:24.660 --> 00:17:29.839 scandalous. Full of grace and truth. Not grace 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:35.200 without truth. Not truth without grace. Grace 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:38.940 that tells the truth. Truth that arrives gently. 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:44.519 That's incarnational love. And later, John will 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:48.220 say it even more plainly in his first letter. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.019 He says, Beloved, let us love one another because 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:55.490 love is from God. Everyone who loves is born 00:17:55.490 --> 00:18:00.549 of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does 00:18:00.549 --> 00:18:07.150 not know God, for God is love. And please catch 00:18:07.150 --> 00:18:12.750 that. God is love, not God has love. Not God 00:18:12.750 --> 00:18:18.170 is really good at the love bit. God feels love. 00:18:18.269 --> 00:18:27.450 No, God is love. It's his very nature, his identity. 00:18:28.710 --> 00:18:36.190 Love is the substance of his being. Every single 00:18:36.190 --> 00:18:42.849 thing he does flows from love because he cannot 00:18:42.849 --> 00:18:48.839 act outside of his nature. And then John goes 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:51.819 on to say, in this love, not that we love God, 00:18:52.019 --> 00:18:55.539 but that he loved us and sent his son. And please 00:18:55.539 --> 00:18:59.079 see what John is doing here. He's defining love 00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:03.880 by God's actions, not ours. We don't get to define 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:10.039 love by our feelings or our efforts. We can only 00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:15.269 recognize it in what God has already done. Love 00:19:15.269 --> 00:19:19.950 is not our initiative. Love is our response. 00:19:21.349 --> 00:19:25.349 That's why the Advent season keeps whispering 00:19:25.349 --> 00:19:31.150 to us, receive. You don't generate love, you 00:19:31.150 --> 00:19:36.289 encounter it. Paul, he puts it this way in Romans. 00:19:37.750 --> 00:19:42.650 For while we were still weak, at the right time, 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:49.099 Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely would 00:19:49.099 --> 00:19:54.279 anyone die for a righteous person. Though, perhaps 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:57.940 for a good person, someone might actually die. 00:19:58.619 --> 00:20:03.940 But God proves his love for us in that while 00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:11.089 we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Not 00:20:11.089 --> 00:20:13.990 Christ died for us once we improved, once we 00:20:13.990 --> 00:20:17.910 understood, once we finally deserved it. Love 00:20:17.910 --> 00:20:23.049 came first. That's grace. That's always been 00:20:23.049 --> 00:20:32.009 grace. And the word dwelt is the key. John is 00:20:32.009 --> 00:20:37.259 deliberately echoing Exodus. The place where 00:20:37.259 --> 00:20:40.519 God's presence settled among Israel in the wilderness. 00:20:41.819 --> 00:20:46.799 Remember the word eschatosin? A tent. A structure 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:52.980 made of skin and poles. Not a palace. Not a temple 00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:57.339 yet. Just a place in the middle of the camp where 00:20:57.339 --> 00:21:00.539 glory could dwell. Where the holy could meet 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:04.799 the ordinary. The cloud by day, the pillar by 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:09.430 night. The presence of God settling into a tent 00:21:09.430 --> 00:21:15.650 among the wandering, complaining, frequently 00:21:15.650 --> 00:21:21.410 unfaithful people. God didn't wait around for 00:21:21.410 --> 00:21:25.390 Israel to get its act together. He didn't pitch 00:21:25.390 --> 00:21:29.009 his tent outside the camp until they proved themselves 00:21:29.009 --> 00:21:33.890 worthy. He moved right into the middle. Right 00:21:33.890 --> 00:21:36.950 where the failure was. Right where all of the 00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:40.250 grumbling was. Right where the golden calf had 00:21:40.250 --> 00:21:43.990 just been built. Same God, same movement. God 00:21:43.990 --> 00:21:49.690 has always chosen presence over perfection. In 00:21:49.690 --> 00:21:53.269 the wilderness, when Israel grumbled. In exile, 00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:56.829 when Judah had failed. In occupied territory, 00:21:56.930 --> 00:22:04.019 under the boot of Rome. And now in flesh. Jesus 00:22:04.019 --> 00:22:09.079 is not God visiting briefly. Jesus is God making 00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:14.440 a home. And this should be really good news when 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:19.259 you think about it. Because what that means is 00:22:19.259 --> 00:22:22.019 it means that love is not something God just 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:29.019 does occasionally. Love is who God is expressed 00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:34.349 spatially. God doesn't just love you, God chooses 00:22:34.349 --> 00:22:39.809 to be with you. And not occasionally, all the 00:22:39.809 --> 00:22:45.269 time. God's love is not conditional upon your 00:22:45.269 --> 00:22:52.210 actions. That's Emmanuel, God with us. Not God 00:22:52.210 --> 00:22:58.190 over us. Not God watching us. Not God judging 00:22:58.190 --> 00:23:03.069 us from afar. Not God sending messages and waiting 00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:07.130 for the proper response. God with us, eating, 00:23:07.410 --> 00:23:11.990 sleeping, weeping, walking dusty roads, sitting 00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:15.450 at tables with sinners, touching lepers, washing 00:23:15.450 --> 00:23:22.109 feet, bleeding on wood. Love doesn't keep its 00:23:22.109 --> 00:23:28.549 distance. Love moves in. So here's the invitation 00:23:28.549 --> 00:23:34.089 for this. final Sunday of Advent. Stop trying 00:23:34.089 --> 00:23:38.009 to keep love in the abstract. Stop waiting to 00:23:38.009 --> 00:23:43.049 feel worthy of it. Stop imagining love as something 00:23:43.049 --> 00:23:47.410 you must earn or maintain. Love has already moved 00:23:47.410 --> 00:23:51.910 in. And if you want to respond to love, you don't 00:23:51.910 --> 00:23:55.509 climb, you don't perform, you don't perfect yourself. 00:23:55.710 --> 00:24:01.079 You make room. Room for God's presence in your 00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:08.119 heart. Room for interruption. Room for grace 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:13.299 that tells the truth and a truth that heals you. 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:19.140 And I wonder what that might look for you this 00:24:19.140 --> 00:24:25.359 week. Maybe that means letting love reach some 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:28.779 of those places that you have kept guarded. The 00:24:28.779 --> 00:24:31.200 shame you've hidden, the failure you've never 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:35.660 confessed, the wound you bandaged but never let 00:24:35.660 --> 00:24:41.319 anyone see. Maybe it means staying present where 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:45.440 you've withdrawn, sitting in the awkwardness, 00:24:45.500 --> 00:24:49.619 leaning into the discomfort, not running when 00:24:49.619 --> 00:24:54.920 a relationship gets hard. Maybe it means forgiving 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:59.339 someone who hasn't earned it yet. Because you 00:24:59.339 --> 00:25:03.099 finally understand you haven't earned it yet 00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:07.759 either. Maybe it means trusting that God's nearness 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:12.259 is not a threat. That when God moves in, he doesn't 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:18.019 move in to condemn, he comes in to dwell. And 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:22.039 here's what I've learned. I know you cannot manufacture 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:25.599 incarnational love. You can only receive it. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:31.480 And then... Slowly, imperfectly, with tons of 00:25:31.480 --> 00:25:35.680 stumbling, you can let it reshape how you show 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:39.500 it to other people. Love's not an idea to agree 00:25:39.500 --> 00:25:45.579 with. Love is a presence to receive. Picture 00:25:45.579 --> 00:25:49.599 it with me. Not a throne, not a spotlight, not 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:57.420 a distant God. But the word. Breathing. Sleeping, 00:25:57.460 --> 00:26:03.220 crying, dwelling. Love didn't shout from heaven. 00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:10.660 Love pitched a tent and it's still here. That's 00:26:10.660 --> 00:26:14.880 the word Advent has built upon all month long. 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:20.299 Not sentiment, not emotion. Not a vague wish 00:26:20.299 --> 00:26:27.000 for the world to be nicer. Incarnation. Love 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:32.660 with skin on it. Glory that bleeds. God who refuses 00:26:32.660 --> 00:26:38.000 to stay safe in eternity and instead looks on 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.839 the vulnerability of the human body in a borrowed 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:44.799 room in an overcrowded town in the armpit of 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:50.160 the Roman Empire. Four weeks ago, we lit the 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:53.779 candle of hope. And hope came as a child, not 00:26:53.779 --> 00:26:57.569 a strategy. Three weeks ago, we lit the candle 00:26:57.569 --> 00:27:00.269 of peace, and peace came as a shoot from a stump, 00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:03.849 not a treaty. Two weeks ago, we lit the candle 00:27:03.849 --> 00:27:07.910 of joy, and joy came as recognition before comprehension, 00:27:08.130 --> 00:27:13.589 a baby leaping in the womb. And now love. Love 00:27:13.589 --> 00:27:19.490 comes as flesh, as dwelling, as Emmanuel. And 00:27:19.490 --> 00:27:22.170 John wants you to know that's not just Bible 00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:26.799 history, that's invitation. Word is still becoming 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:30.200 flesh in every place you're willing to make room 00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:36.019 for it. And in a few days, some of us will gather 00:27:36.019 --> 00:27:41.480 with family, easy or complicated. Some of us 00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:46.140 will be alone. Some of us will be remembering 00:27:46.140 --> 00:27:50.599 someone who isn't there anymore. Some of us will 00:27:50.599 --> 00:27:54.950 be celebrating. Some of us will be enduring. 00:27:56.670 --> 00:27:59.549 Wherever you are, whoever you're with, whatever 00:27:59.549 --> 00:28:03.730 you're carrying, remember this. Love's already 00:28:03.730 --> 00:28:07.569 arrived. So may the love that moved toward you 00:28:07.569 --> 00:28:11.230 before you understood it stay with you this week 00:28:11.230 --> 00:28:16.049 and into the new year. May the God who chose 00:28:16.049 --> 00:28:20.710 flesh choose every part of your life you thought 00:28:20.710 --> 00:28:26.059 was unworthy of his presence. May the word that 00:28:26.059 --> 00:28:28.240 dwelt among us dwell in the rooms you've been 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:33.420 afraid to unlock. May the light that took on 00:28:33.420 --> 00:28:36.099 flesh shine in the darkness you've been hiding. 00:28:37.960 --> 00:28:43.160 And may you discover, not someday, not abstractly, 00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:47.880 but right here, right now, that love has already 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:53.720 arrived. So go in peace and remember. The light 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:56.559 that took on flesh will be leading you all the 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:08.759 way home. Amen. Amen. Let's be honest. Love is 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:10.980 a loaded word. Some of us grew up hearing it, 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:14.000 but not feeling it. Some of us gave it and got 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.259 burned. Some of us are still waiting for it to 00:29:17.259 --> 00:29:20.539 come back. We've been told love is something 00:29:20.539 --> 00:29:22.839 you earn, something you perform, something you 00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:26.180 say when you want something in return. And in 00:29:26.180 --> 00:29:28.480 a world like that, it's hard to believe in a 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:32.140 love that actually shows up. A love that moves 00:29:32.140 --> 00:29:36.299 in when everyone else walked out. But Advent 00:29:36.299 --> 00:29:39.359 won't let us settle for the world's cheap definitions. 00:29:39.819 --> 00:29:42.619 Because the Gospel of John tells us plainly, 00:29:42.619 --> 00:29:47.319 the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. didn't 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:52.380 send a feeling, he sent himself. So, if your 00:29:52.380 --> 00:29:55.259 heart's a little tired, a little guarded, a little 00:29:55.259 --> 00:29:58.380 unsure of whether love is worth trusting anymore, 00:29:58.859 --> 00:30:02.960 then friend, this episode, this message is for 00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:08.220 you. And if that message hits home, if this little 00:30:08.220 --> 00:30:10.900 podcast has been a reminder that grace still 00:30:10.900 --> 00:30:13.880 speaks through the static, Throw your like in 00:30:13.880 --> 00:30:15.880 the offering plate, not for me, for the ones 00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:20.059 still tuning in. You can click subscribe if you 00:30:20.059 --> 00:30:22.920 want, if you want to keep walking with us through 00:30:22.920 --> 00:30:25.180 Christmas, maybe even into the new year, not 00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:28.019 to support a brand, but to say, I'm still listening. 00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:32.259 Word is still becoming flesh. Love is still moving 00:30:32.259 --> 00:30:35.579 in. And friend, until next time, be blessed.