Sunday, December 11, 2022
- Reflection by Kristin Johnston Largen
1 John 4:7-11
“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might live through him” [1 John 4:9]
We often put the cross—and death—at the center of God’s plan of salvation, but this verse invites us instead to look to the manger—and life—for both how God saves, and who God is. And when we turn our hearts and eyes to Bethlehem, what we see so clearly is love: God’s unending, passionate, mysterious love for each one of us and the whole world, made manifest in an infant, in a stable, surrounded by animals, under a starry sky. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel: God-with-us, God-for-us, God-by-us, God-in-us. God loves us so much that God will not let us go, will not be without us—not now, not ever. This is love that changes enemies into friends; this is love that changes swords into ploughshares; this is love that changes the world. Unbreakable, unshakeable love like that is what salvation looks like.
Incarnate savior, what wondrous love is shown forth in your birth. Beguile us with your beauty, catch our breath with your wonder, and rouse us from our slumber into lives ablaze with your love for the whole world. AMEN.