It Is Love That Will Save Us

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It was love that brought God to that teenage girl in a village just outside of Jerusalem.  

 It was love that pierced the darkness of that bygone age---an age that stands for all ages and all places and moments.  

 It was love that brought forth that firstborn Son, the Light of Life, who was set to rest in a manger, wrapped in rough blankets. 

 It was love that changed everything for everyone in every time.  

 I  read this amazing quote the other day from Wendell Barry, the great author, poet and activist:  
I  take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world.  I  believe the world was created and improved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. 
As I  was reading that quote again today, I found myself substituting the words that referred to "the world" with the words "I" and "me."  You ought to take a moment and do the same. 

 Isn't that amazing? 
"God loves me..."  "... I was created and improved by love...that I subsist, cohere and endure by love..."  "...I can only be redeemed by love."  
It is love that brings God still---in all of the unexpected ways, through unexpected people, who have been hereto neglected, forgotten and abandoned by all but God.  

 It is love that makes us remember the deeper reason for this Advent season, and calls us closer to the One who is always arriving.  

 It is love that comes to us now in the eternal and universal Christ, who plays in 10,000 places, and who transcends all of our feeble imaginations--arriving just when we need hope the most.  

 It is love that opens our eyes and enables us to see Him.  

 It is love that will save the world.  It is love that will save us. 

 May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

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