Advent 4: Love
Isaiah 7
Isaiah Gives Ahaz the Sign of Immanuel
10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11“Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16 For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
Presence is Everything
- The boy in the shopping cart at Sam's
- The light bearer bring light into darkness
- "either, or" becomes "both, and"
Advent Presence
- Love shows up
- and we get nervous
- Love refuses to be distant
- and we like our privacy
- Love is less interested in power than nearness
- Not God above us
- Not God against us
- God with us
- Love dwells and is a dwelling place
- John 1: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us..."
- Dwells = "Pitched a tent"
- Proximity becomes Participation
Advent Celebrates
- Love made flesh
- Love has a name
- Love is entrusted to ordinary people
Immanuel, God with us
- in uncertainty
- in waiting
- in grief and joy
- in faith and doubt
Love is not something God sends...
God is love. (1 John 4:7&8)
The sign of love is not a magic fix for everything
all at once but God's refusal to leave us alone.
So, make room, not for perfection, but for the mess
because Jesus doesn't alter our reality, He enters it.
MATTHEW 1:18-25
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly.
20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.
A Litany of Love: God With Us
Leader:
Before we knew what to ask for,
before we learned how to believe,
love was already on the way.
People:
God is with us.
Leader:
Not with answers that silence our fear,
but with presence that stays even when fear remains.
People:
God is with us.
Leader:
Not beyond the reach of our questions,
not protected from our fragility,
but choosing to dwell among ordinary lives.
People:
God is with us.
Leader:
Love does not wait for stability or certainty.
Love takes on flesh.
Love learns our names.
People:
God is with us.
Leader:
Where hope feels thin,
where trust has been strained,
where the waiting has grown long—
People:
God is with us.
Leader:
This is the sign we are given:
not proof, not power, not escape—
but a promise that refuses to leave.
People:
God is with us.
Leader:
So we make room, not because we are ready,
but because love has already arrived.
People:
Immanuel.
God with us.
Questions to Consider:
- Where do you need God to be with you right now?
- What are you afraid God might not stay with?
- Where in your everyday life do you notice God already near?
- What would it mean for you to make room for God today?
- How can you be present with love this week?
