Our Lenten Devotion for Sunday, March 20, comes to us from Steadfast Love which features reflections and prayers by Ed Arle and Gil Duchow with inspiration from the works of Henri J.M. Nouwen.
9 This is how God showed love among us: God sent the one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9 NIV
“Love Revealed”
“Here the greatest mystery of all time was revealed to us: God chose to reveal the divine glory to us in humiliation. Where all beauty is gone, all eloquence silenced, all splendor taken away, and all admiration withdrawn, there it is that God has chosen to manifest unconditional love to us.”
(from Walk with Jesus by Henri J.M. Nouwen, page 64Henri)
It’s said that when we wish to communicate, we use words. When God wants to communicate, God takes the word and hangs flesh and blood on it. And what is that Word? It is Jesus. In the incarnation, God’s divine Son takes on human form, not just to tell us of God’s love but to reveal God’s love. And that’s just the beginning. We would think that the Incarnation would be revealed in holy fanfare. That the Christ would come in power, not poverty; in a crown, not a cross; in glory, not in the dust of a manger. No crown. No glory. No power. God’s unconditional love is revealed in the cross of Christ, so that in that cross, we might discover the gift of life that came at Easter, the gift of life and love that keeps on giving through you and me.
Friends –
God sent Jesus into our world to live as one of us without riches or social station, yet for over 2000 years he has been our guide and leader. Jesus is the one after whom we pattern our lives and hear God calling us to receive God’s unconditional love and share that love with others.
--Pastor bea
Prayer:
Dear Lord, the love that came in Jesus has come to stay. May it live forever in my heart. Amen.