It is Week 3 of Advent and I would once again like to light a virtual calendar and use the script for it from the book we are using for our Advent Season at Boone First United Methodist Church this year.
The book is “The Redemption of Scrooge” by Matt Rawle:
The week we light the candle of Love. Christina Rossetti, a late nineteenth-century poet, wrote, “Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, Love Divine; Love was born at Christmas, star and angels gave the sign.” Jesus was fully divine (love came down) and fully human (love was born) Son of God. Making sense of Jesus’ full divinity and full humanity existing in the same place and same time is confusing. The Nice Creed attempts to spell it out saying: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.” It’s almost funny that the best way we can describe this cornerstone of our faith is to say that Christ is of the same substance as God, or in other words, whatever God is, Christ is too.
The point is that love both “came down,” and “was born,” because love is who God is. God is the creator of all things seen and unseen. God is full of majesty and glory. God’s presence also lives intimately with in us, closer to us than the air we breath. When we learn to love God and love one another, I am convinced that what we share is the very presence of the divine. Yes, it can be confusing, and there is a tension when trying to explain it, but love lies at the center of it all. We light the candle of Love as a sign of the beautiful mystery of God’s love.
Gracious God, whose love came down and put on flesh to walk among us, help us to accept and share your presence, so that the world might know your love. In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Redemption of Scrooge by Matt Rawle – Page 80
Tonight we light the Love Candle:
Happy Advent!
For the first time in several years, what is probably my favorite band went on tour together. That band… The Swell Season. They were playing The Orpheum in Minneapolis in July so I got some tickets and Bethany agreed to go.
So I packed Bokeh up in the car and headed up north.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
Bokeh did great on her first extended road trip. In fact, she did way better than I ever would have expected.
Bokeh and Tempe were fast friends.
We visited a couple of record stores before getting food and going to the concert.
The first one was Cheapo Records.
I could have spent hours there!
Incredible album cover!
The second record store was Electric Fetus.
I bought this!
I wanted to buy this, but couldn’t pull the trigger. Until we meet again The Warrior Soundtrack!
We had supper at Hai Hai!
It was Southeast Asian food.
The Swell Season!
Would I eat at Hai Hai again? Most definitely! It was delicious and unique and did I say delicious? Now would I make a special trip to Minneapolis for it? Nah, there are so many food adventures to have in Minneapolis that I would want to try some other culinary experience rather than hitting them up again.
Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve a trip to Kansas City, but not for barbecue.