Love came down at Christmas

St. Augustine asked, perhaps one of the most vexing questions for me, and one that I've heard often during confirmation classes, trips with youth and adults when we get a few minutes of "free time" to truly ponder. The question is, "What do I love when I love my God?".

This advent season I've returned to one of my favorite books, "On Religion" by John Caputo who strives to tackle this question posed by Augustine. And as he concludes, the words of Mary ring out loudly and clearly: "Nothing is impossible with God," just as Caputo suggests the God we love is the possibilities we love:

"The meaning of God is enacted in an openness to a future that I can neither master nor see coming, in an exposure to the possibilities that are impossible for me, which surpass my powers, which overpower me, which drive me to the limits of the possible, which draw me out to God -- with whom nothing is impossible."

The writer of the letters of John beautifully articulates that God IS love, and boldly asserts that if we know love we know God. Caputo notes, "it is not a matter of finding a dictionary equivalent for the love of God but of DOING IT, of giving testimony to it, of seeing that its effect is to translate us into action, to move and bestir us. Love is not a meaning to define but something to do, something to make. The love of God is something to DO."

On this Christmas Eve, as we think about the outrageousness of God's assertion of Emmanuel -- God with us -- how can we not understand that God is Love?

To be with us when we are as alone and left out as those shepherds living on the margins, the outskirts . . . too "other" to be included in the activities of Bethlehem. God is with us. God is love.

To be with us when we act like Herod and use our power and privilege in ways that demean and lessen others and yet to be forgiven and comforted. God is with us. God is love.

To be with us at our very core and be blessed to carry this love within us and to share it with the whole world as Mary was blessed and challenged. God is with us. God is love.

This Christmas I hold in my heart the understanding that all things are possible with God -- with Love.

Seeking Hope, Advent II

A Jesse Tree
The 11th chapter of Isaiah describes the ideal king in the line of Israel’s great king, David. The first verse of that chapter says,
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

Jesse was King David’s father. The image of a branch growing out of the roots of Jesse points to a new king in David’s line. Even as the people of Israel were cut down like a tree, a few remained faithful and held on to hope in God. The re-established Israel. The stories of our biblical ancestors are stories of hope -- of people holding on to the dream that the world will be the place we want it to be. That hope -- for our saving future -- is the hope we seek in the life and teaching of Jesus.

Our advent devotion for this week is to create a Jesse Tree decorated with symbols of the hopes of those biblical ancestors. The symbols on the "Jesse Tree" remind us that our belief grows out of deep roots of thousands of years of ancestors in the faith.

Making a Jesse Tree is as simple as placing a tree branch in a large tin can (such as a coffee can) and anchor it with rocks. Then, create the symbols on construction paper. Punch a hole in the paper ornament with a hole punch. Attach the ornament to the tree branch with yarn. Below are six pages of Jesse Tree ornaments for you to print and use. Each page contains four of the designs listed below for kids to color and decorate with glitter or cotton balls glued to the ornament. Copy the designs to your computer. Print the designs on card stock. Cut each page into four ornaments and you'll have patterns for two-dozen Jesse Tree ornaments.

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