You’re Worth Loving
This year St. Peter’s UCC in Grant Park is providing the book A Love Worth Giving to You at Christmas by Max Lucado for our members to distribute to their families, friends, and neighbors as a small gift. Each book includes an invitation to worship with our church family on Christmas Eve.
Throughout Advent we are reminding everyone that they are worth loving! Lucado writes, “(Jesus) went from commanding angels to sleeping in straw. From holding stars to clutching Mary’s finger. The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier. Why? Because that’s what love does.”
Each day, during Advent, join us for a journey to see just how much God’s love for you is evidenced in the story of Christmas.
Make Room for Jesus
Are you struggling to find spiritual hope, peace, joy, and love this Advent?
Maybe it is because you are swamped in shopping for Christmas, busy baking and preparing meals for the Holidays, or drained by making this meeting, event, or activity day after day.
Our lives are busy. Frankly, they often too busy for God and for the time it needs to be still and listen for the voice of God.
Let me ask, “What do you truly want this Christmas?” What will satisfy you deeply? Are they the materialistic things of this world or is it one of the spiritual gifts from Heaven – hope, peace, love, or joy?
Once you have identified what it is you truly want then it is time to prepare a plan to accomplish it.
Spiritually speaking, we need to “prepare the way for the Lord.”
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:1-3).
Advent is a good place to start your journey towards receiving the gifts of Jesus in your life.
However, there is still an additional step we need to make. That is, we need to de-clutter from the things in life that are distracting us from hearing from God and from receiving the full extent of his hope, peace, love, and joy.
Just as we have to purge, or de-clutter our closets, homes, and offices to make room for newer and better things, we need to de-clutter the parts of our life that we do not need so that we can make room for Jesus.
You’re WORTH LOVING! However, to feel the full measure of God’s love you need to get rid of the things that keep Him from having your entire heart.
Prayer: Turn back to us, O God our Savior, and cancel thy displeasure. Give us new life that we may rejoice in You. Help us to rid ourselves of our own expectations of Christmas and value the signs and symbols of Advent the way You want us to. Give us comfort and speak tenderly to us. Amen. (based on Psalm 85 & Isaiah 40)