We have come to the final and fourth week of advent, and this week, we reflect on love, “the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God.” Paul tells us that love is the greatest of the theological virtues: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).

On the final Sunday of Advent, Churches will light the fourth candle, representing Advent love. Worshippers will contemplate scriptures from the Old and New Testaments that speak of God’s love for humanity. This divine love is the foundation of the Bible's entire narrative — Creation, the fall, redemption, and the continuous restoration journey. Let us explore the profound depth of Advent love.

 

Also, today, we look back and remember that first advent. We see God’s promise of redemption fulfilled and know that a new era of God’s restoration has been ushered in.

But what are we called to do now as we wait upon the second advent of Jesus Christ? The answer is simple. We are to do what Christ does: Love. When his critics tried to test him, asking which commandment is the greatest, Jesus answered, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).  So, on this day, this season and the season of Christmas that we anticipate, let us ask how we can love God and love our neighbour more fully so that we might fulfil the call of Jesus Christ:

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way, the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us first and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. (1John:4: 7-12).

 

This is a perfect time to demonstrate God’s love to our neighbours, friends, families, and foes, to the needy and the lonely, not just in material things but also using our time, treasure, and talent.