The Advent of Love

 As you know, I believe that the active living of Agape Love in the world IS the call of all who would follow Jesus, and THE mission of the church that bears the name of the Christ.  It is the central message in the Good News of Jesus.

It is a revolutionary act.  It is a radical thing to do.  Tragic as it is, this is revolutionary and radical because we have come so far away from making the values of the Kingdom our normative values in this part of the Kingdom, here and now.  It is so revolutionary and radical because our descent into the living of empire values has brought us to a very low point in our life with God, as it has in the past.  We have aligned ourselves with empire instead of God.  We have made normative the values of empire: Greed, lust for Power, Hatred and desire for Status.  This has divided us and has destroyed the lives of many of God's children.  We have given lip service to God while giving our devotion to the god of self by living empire values.  That is our idolatry.  It is our sin.  As a nation, as the church in this nation, we have buried the Good News of Jesus under the evils of empire in our hearts, have created new theologies and ideologies to justify it in our minds and have thus killed our souls and the soul of our nation.

The Good News is that not all have walked that path.  There are prophets and teachers who have not given themselves over to empire and its values, but have remained faithful to Jesus and what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us as God's Will.  They have striven to live the Agape Love and Grace that Jesus represents for a world weary of its oppression.  They have done the revolutionary and radical thing in the face of empire - they have actively committed on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy, and especially the most vulnerable among us.  They have consistently and constantly given the alternative message of the Gospel in a world saturated by the bad news of empire.  Some of the them have been ignored and some silenced, but their message of revolutionary love has been received by many, and is now kindling a fire of radical love across or nation and the world once again.

In the midst of the darkness of injustice, inequities and oppression, the Good News of Agape Love shines, exposes the darkness for what it is and enlightens a different path of truth and life.  It drives those in politics and economics, those in their communities, families and society to work toward the Shalom (completeness, wholeness, well-being) of all around them.  It draws people who are weary of oppression to stand in solidarity with those who have most been hurt by empire's predatory practices.  It guides people to a different, better, more sustainable way of living in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.  It gathers people as advocates for those who have been held down, back and out for so long because of empire's ways.  It leads us to the living of God's Will as we follow in Jesus' Way of Agape Love and Grace.

We are in the Advent of Love.  We have seen it shine in the darkness of occupied streets, in the dark corridors of legislative corruption and in the dark voids of economic injustice.  People are saying, "NO!" to empire and "YES!" to the living of Agape Love for one another.  

In one of the darkest periods of our nation's life, certainly in our lifetimes, at the darkest time of the year, the light is shining so that the high places (and people) will be brought down as those in low places are raised up, the crooked will be straightened out and the rough and violent places smoothed out in justice, equity and peace.  

Join the movement.  Be a part of this revolution.  Do the radical thing.  Live Agape Love and Grace, and work for the Shalom of all around you.  If we want to be followers of Jesus, we must go where Jesus went.  It is OUR call and OUR mission as children of God and followers of Jesus, in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now!

This is OUR ADVENT OF LOVE.

Pastor Jamie