Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. — Psalm 85:10
… and you shall come here, and I will light in your heart the lamp of understanding. — 2 Esdras 14:25
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As you kindle the four primary candles that dance a circle around the final unlit candle—the long-awaited Christ candle—you are creating a network of light. You are preparing the way for the coming of ultimate light.
Agape, mentioned at the beginning of this week, is a holy love to which humans aspire, but which humans cannot actually attain. Its nature is so inclusive and comprehensive, so absolutely gracious and abundantly overflowing, humans as individuals and even as communities seek to model that ideal. Yet over and over, humans also miss the mark.
Should you be discouraged because agape is a form of love you might admire, and yet not be able to fully reach, to holistically practice? Alone or in community?
What Jesus’ lesson of the Beatitudes taught his followers was that while you cannot touch Godself, or fully love Godself, you can choose to love what God loves. And God loves all people and all of creation.
Thus, to strive toward agape, you are invited to have compassion for and connection with the recipients of holy love: humanity, all living beings and elements of creation, as well as the fullness of creation itself. If such an aspiration overwhelms you, then take it step by step. Choose one cause or corner of creation, one stranger or one neighbor, one part of your local community, where you can act on the principles of love for others and creation, as a reflection of your love for Godself.
One light at a time, the world is changed. One life at a time, love moves through the world.
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The best love is the kind that awakens the soul;
that makes us reach for more,
that plants the fire in our hearts
and brings peace to our minds.
— Nicholas Sparks
We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path
without brightening our own. – Ben Sweetland