25 Days of Advent: Love Came Down at Christmas

New background for the blog! I tried to find a good wintery one but I just really liked this star when I saw it, all glowing and warm.

Today's song is "Love Came Down at Christmas." To spice things up a bit, here is a great version done by Jars of Clay. The music video is slightly odd, such as I'm pretty sure Mary rode more of a donkey animal than a unicorn animal. But the basics are there.



Here are the words from the hymn:

Love Came Down at Christmas

Love came down at Christmas
Love all lovely, Love divine
Love was born at Christmas
Star and angel gave the sign

Love shall be our token
Love be yours and love be mine
Love to God and all men
Love for plea and gift and sign

I like this, sweet and simple as it is. It's about love. And God isn't just about love. He is love. I don't really have anything better to say than the apostle John already did in 1 John 4:

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. BUt perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, his is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

So Christmas brings the promise of God's love for us: Love all lovely, love divine. And Christmas brings the commandment that we would make God's love complete on earth by loving one another: Love shall be our token. Love God. Love one another. Love started at the first Christmas.