The Advent of (Agape) Love

"Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine; love was born at Christmas, stars and angels gave the sign."

Jesus ushered in Agape Love as the Standard of living for those who would be people of God.  This committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy and especially the most vulnerable is preached, taught, commanded and modeled by Jesus as we see throughout the Gospels.
Paul wrote eloquently about it to encourage followers in Corinth (I Corinthians 13) and Philippi (Philippians 2:1-11) to live it in their communities, as followers of Jesus.

It is how we will be known as Jesus' disciples.                                      John 13:35
It is the criteria upon which salvation is decided by Jesus, the judge.   Matthew 25:31-46
From others and from me, you know the rest of much of the bulk of Gospel writing attributed to Jesus that shares this command to live Agape Love in the world as the central teaching, command and example of Jesus for any who would be Jesus' followers.

Over the generations, Agape Love has been buried as the central focus.  It has been covered up with concern for self: personal salvation, personal prosperity, personal power and personal status.  Preachers, believers and church bodies have focused on purity, holiness, worship, praise, tithes and have ignored Jesus' command to live Agape in the world.  None of these things are expressions of Agape Love per se, and devotion to them has not been an expression of devotion to God and Neighbor out of Agape, but rather out of concern for and focus on self.  Like the Word uncovered in the time of Josiah, buried in a treasury box in a wall of the Temple, we have buried this teaching of Jesus under all things wealth, power and status for self.
My hope is for a re-discovery as in the time of Josiah and dramatic, though less violent efforts to reform and return to a respect for and adherence to the Law of Agape in Jesus.

We need an Advent of Agape Love about now.
Hatred has become normative.  Selfishness is the American Way.  Apathy to the plight of others (the real opposite of love) dominates as we have been programed to focus on ourselves and those like us alone, while having no regard for the most vulnerable or regarding them as less virtuous, less deserving and less human.  We have been conditioned to think this way by those who promote the values of empire, as opposed to the values of the Kingdom of God in Agape Love.

We need an Advent of Agape Love right now.
People have moved out of their racist reactions to our former President, to elect a person whose hateful, selfish, ignorant rhetoric made him stand out from other candidates for the office.  People have promoted the intolerance, self-centered focus and greed of this President as being values both normative and virtuous for Americans to hold.  The people who have been put in office and emboldened by our latest election have worked diligently to promote the intolerant deportation of resident aliens, strip away affordable healthcare for the most vulnerable and actively work to kill the middle and working classes with tax "reform".  Many have voted for them and many of those in office have done these things while professing to be "Christian" followers of Jesus, who will judge us all in the end on how we have lived Agape Love with the most vulnerable (Matthew 25:31-46).  Yet, by droves, "Christians" in America have voted for those who have been trying to do this for years, and voted for this President who promotes greed, hatefulness and ignorance as our new norms.  Agape is reserved for God and Neighbor, not self and not "mammon, mars and Bacchus".  Many "Christians" still believe you can serve two masters, however and they apply love to only themselves and those just like them, and actively hurt others in order to get more for themselves.  It has become the norm in American "Christianity".  They persist in supporting this kind of anti-Christ, anti-love behavior BECAUSE they say they are "Christians".

We need The Advent of Love.
Those who have not sold out to empire values completely and who desire only to follow Jesus by living what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as God's Kingdom values in Agape Love, need to prepare the way for Agape Love... the Logos... to be born again among us.  We need to expose the works of darkness that have been considered "light", and proclaim, demonstrate and live Agape Love in the world around us.  We need to point to the Christ and His coming as a current phenomenon, heralded by the heavenly host.  We need to give this Good News in an environment of bad news packaged as good, so that folk will not be able to ignore the truth of it according to the Word they claim to hold dear, and thus hold them accountable for the "biblical faith" they profess.  We need to admonish those among us who have abandoned sound doctrine due to "itching ears", who have be "blown about by every wind of doctrine" that promised to get them what they wanted according to empire values, and help them see the error of their ways and find hope in the truly Good News of Jesus centered on Agape Love.  We must act and we must act now, before the darkness permeates every corner of this part of God's Kingdom.

We are in The Advent of Love.
That means that we must prepare the way of the Lord in hearts and minds.
That means that we must exalt the lows, smooth out the rough and straighten the crooked.
That means that we must repent and believe in Jesus' Good News (Mark 1:15).
That means that we must change how we think and act in the world around us, this part of God's Kingdom.
That means that we must get ready all over again for the coming of Jesus, Word made Flesh, in our hearts and minds, in our teaching and in our living.

Jesus is witnessed as telling His followers that He will come again, and that He is with always to the end of the age.  The Holy Spirit of God points, guides and drives us to the Christ everyday.  Jesus comes to us still.

This is the Advent of Agape Love.  Please, Lord, let this be the Advent of Agape Love.

Pastor Jamie