Advent-First Tuesday 11/30

I'm reflecting a little late tonight as I spent most, okay all, of the afternoon napping after running a fever last night.  But I am feeling better and had fun going through the lectionary this evening.  There were many verses that were great but this one really stood out to me:

"So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us."-1 Thessalonians 2:8

When I read the passage from 1 Thessalonians I had to stop and let it sink in.  It is a reminder that this season of Advent is not just a time to stop and anticipate for ourselves the coming of Christ, but it is a time where we should be sharing the Gospel because we care so deeply for the world around us.  

A few weeks ago I was asked a question that I continue to ponder, when you imagine God what do you see?  I pondered and I still ponder, but I see someone who created this world and deeply loves the world but at the same time someone who yearns for this world to be whole again.  Someone who is heartbroken at the the way the world functions in oppression and self desire.   

It is in this season of Advent that we remember just how much God cares for the world.  Enough to send us Jesus Christ, a child, a human, to dwell among us, to live as we live, to see what we see, to do what we do, and to be in relation to other humans.  While at the same time he was human he was also divine. 

This message of a God who dwells among us is powerful, it is a gift that we have to share with the world, the world that God deeply cares about and that we too should deeply care about.  

In this Advent season let us share the gospel of God with the world.  Let us "go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere." But let us not forget to share ourselves as well.  Christ didn't just give the story, Christ gave of himself.  

Go and tell, go and live, go and share, go and be in this world.

Peace be within you,

KP

Photo: This photo was taken in the Hanover College Chapel after a Sunday afternoon worship service on living in the valley, climbing the mountain, and going into the valley's again.  The candles represent prayers and memories of mountaintop and valley experiences.