Faces on Faith: LOVE came down at CHRISTMAS
Love came down at Christmas
Love all lovely, love divine
Love was born at Christmas
Star and Angels gave the sign
-Christina Rossetti
Christians the world over find the Christmas season to be a time of love and wonder, generosity and forgiveness, since the Christ child came with the power to transform us, to make us love’s actual manifestation.
Students of Edgar Cayce compiled a book of his sayings called A Search for God. His words remind us: “Love, divine love is universal. It is found in the smile of a babe, which indeed is love undefiled; in the beauty of a song, and in voices raised in praise to the Giver of Light. Love is manifested in the performance of a duty when there is no thought of personal gain; in speaking an encouraging word to those in despair, and in the activities of those doing their best with the talents entrusted to them.”
Christian Science churches have the words “God Is Love” on the front of their sanctuaries. Love is the central message of the New Testament. The Christian Science Sunday Service ends with I John 3:l-3. The J. B. Phillips translation of these verses in his New Testament of Modern English reads: “Consider the incredible love that the father has shown us in allowing us to be called ‘Children of God’ – and that is not just what we are called, but what we are. This explains why the world will no more recognize us than it recognized Christ.”
“Here and now my dear friends, we are God’s children. We don’t know what we will become in the future. We only know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has at heart a hope like this, keeps himself pure, even as he is pure.”
As we draw near to the Holy Child, we find ourselves bathed in wonder, enveloped in Christly love, which is uplifting, restoring, redeeming, healing, or as Romans tells us: “bringing us into newness of life with regeneration.”