Love

Fourth Week of Advent
Tuesday December 24, 2013

 Read: Psalm 96 

Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity.’
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.—Psalm 96:10-13 

Righteousness and justice are always connected in Judeo-Christian language. God is the source of what is right for God is righteous. He is righteous because he both judges and saves. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9) The Messiah is called righteousness in relationship to his mercy. Jesus was sent to bring justice into the world. Jesus said the right thing to do always is to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Doing both of these commandments pretty much covers all the others and takes precedence.

Somewhere along the line in the development of the Christian faith, we moved from a community centered system of belief toward a more individual personal salvation center. There is no question that we are called as individuals to attest to our belief in Jesus Christ, but that is just a beginning step. Taking that step means we are entering into a covenant of love with the diverse peoples of the world who have also taken that step. And furthermore, we are challenged to join all who were created in the image of God into the oneness of God’s love.

Let us join with the Psalmist and celebrate the love shown to us by God in sending Jesus Christ as our redeemer. And lift our voices in song to the Glory of God, our creator, who longs for us all to be one.

Prayer: O God, who painted the blue sky and placed the sun amid it, radiate through our lives your love as we strive to become one. Amen.

All scripture passages are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version.