Here’s an Advent meditation to be read slowly, attentively, as you might read a poem by your favorite poet, anticipating the exquisite joy of discovering greater depths of meaning as you read it over several times. What images have a particular impact as you read? With each prayerful reading, ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to focus, to truly ‘hear’ the promise that is being written on your heart:
Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking, The Voice was and is God. This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator; His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him. His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light – a light that thrives in the depths of darkness, blazes through murky bottoms. It cannot and will not be quenched. The Voice took on flesh and became human and chose to live alongside us. God, unseen until now, is revealed in the Voice, God’s only Son, straight from the Father’s heart.
What angsty teen or young adult hasn’t asked: How will I know when I’m in love? And who hasn’t received this less than helpful response: You’ll just know. Why is the subject of love so difficult to describe, so hard to put into words, so frustratingly evasive? It’s such a popular word culturally, in music and film, yet it remains just ever so slightly out of reach. Maybe every definition suggested is partially right, while none are able to fully unpack it to the point of satisfaction. Maybe, just maybe, love is too big, too other, to apply a definitive explanation. Maybe, just maybe, the Scripture that says: ‘God is love.’ provides us with the answer. If that is so, to explain ‘love’ is to explain God. And we know it’s one thing to talk about Him, to worship Him, to memorize Scripture about Him, and another to truly know Him, to be known by Him, to be loved by Him. At this point, words fail. At this point we need to sit back, breathe deeply, and embrace the mystery of being in a loving relationship with the God of the Universe, the God of Creation, the God who is totally like Jesus. At this point, we can only whimper a pitiful, ‘Thank You.’ PD
