Love, the Lord

 

"People, Look East": verse #5

The Eve of the Nativity / Year C

We have had a wonderful Advent season here at St. Paul’s.  It began with a contemplative service of Advent Lessons & Carols on the afternoon of December 1.  The following weekend we opened our church to be a part of the Historic Home Tour, which allowed hundreds of visitors to experience the beauty of our church and to learn a little bit of our story.  The third weekend in Advent found a few of us at Chanco on the James participating in a wonderful retreat on meditation practices led by our bishop, Susan Haynes.  This past Saturday we welcomed the Virginia Handbell Consort for its incredible annual Christmas program.  While the schedule has been full, it has been fulfilling in every sense of the word.

I will always remember Advent 2024 for our focus on the hymn People, Look East.  I love its melody, am captivated by its images, and am inspired by its message of hope.  After Love, the guest, the bird, the rose, and the star, tonight we are invited to contemplate Love, the Lord.

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth

  Christ who brings new life to earth.

Set every peak and valley humming

  with the word, the Lord is coming.

People, look east and sing today:

  Love, the Lord, is on the way.

Perhaps nothing is more remarkable than how our Lord comes to us as a child.  In fact, in my humble opinion, Love, the child is on the way is a perfect way to wrap up our Advent focus.

I remember so vividly the births of each of my daughters.  The very instant I held my first daughter for the very first time is was as if a lightning bolt from out of the blue struck me.  Without warning something I never anticipated happened.  A depth of love, of compassion, and of joy which I had never experienced before was born in me.  It remains one of the most miraculous moments of my entire life and the feelings it stirred endure to this day.  When my second daughter was born I experienced how this feeling could be broadened to another human being.  Love, the child, has a way of awakening something deep in our souls.  It lights a flame not present before… a flame which will never burn out.

I am not yet a grandparent, but I have learned from those of you who are, once you have a grandchild you become absolutely incapable of not showing pictures of the new arrival to everyone you know… especially your humble parish priest.  You who have foisted photo after photo upon me know how I have developed a sarcastic way of saying, “That is the most be-ute-if-ole baby EEEVVVEEERRR.”  And let me get this out of the way now, so I don’t have to say it to each of you individually after the service: “Your grandchild was definitely THE star of the nativity pageant!”

Actually, I am very happy for those of you who are grandparents and great grandparents.  You have come to experience one of the great blessings in life.  I note with awe how, especially with the birth of the first grandchild, you grandparents soon are given brand new names.  It happens when your grandchild begins to call you ‘Pop Pop’ or ‘Nana’ or ‘Grampsy’ or ‘Grammy.’  Up until you’re your grandchild’s birth no one ever called you by this name before.  But your grandchild has the power to claim you and to rename you – to give you a new identity – one which will last for the rest of your life. 

Tonight we celebrate because centuries ago Love, the Lord came to us first as a child and this child has the power to do what our grandchildren do.  This gift of Love awakes something deep within us.  Through the birth of Love, the Lord, we are reborn.  Something new, something almost unspeakable comes to life in us.  And this Love has the power to claim us, even to give us a new name.  However we were known before, however we thought of ourselves in the past, once Love, the Lord claims us we take on a new name, a new identity: ‘beloved.’

Tonight, as a we celebrate Love, the Lord coming into the world, we give thanks for what it births within us and for how it lays a claim on our hearts.  Tonight we no longer look East to find this Love, we look within and we look around… around at the faces of those who gather with us here tonight; whose bright eyes and warm smiles are radiant with the Love of the Lord.  Tonight, we joyfully sing, Love, the Lord, has come today.