From Austin Seminary: "Advent Devotional" for December 25, Christmas Day

"Advent ushers us into a season of anticipation, hope, and joy, as we await the day of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah ... We intend this Advent Devotional booklet as a gift of the season for you, to signify our deep appreciation for all that you do for Austin Seminary. And we hope that you will share it with others, so that they may also partake in the blessings of Advent alongside us. Be assured that our hearts are joyful to overflowing as we celebrate together this season that anticipates what my dear friend John Rogers described in the title of his book, “The Birth of God.” May your heart overflow, as well."

G. Archer Frierson

Austin Seminary Board of Trustees

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Advent Devotional for December 25, Christmas Day

• 1 John 4:7-21

As you read this text, you may be feeling the love that this holy season just generates. Feeling the fresh memory of last night’s Christmas Eve service, or the joy of opening presents, or the delight of that traditional Christmas breakfast which you and loved ones enjoy annually.

So this text, with its frequent use of the word “love,” may be a particular delight for you today. “Let us love one another” “…God is love,” “…since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” The ring of a Christmas card: “love, love, love.”

Which is why we should read them more carefully. We don’t know a lot about the internal life of the community to which the first Epistle of John was written, but we get the impression that something had gone bad wrong there. Maybe some people in that community had gotten too preoccupied with the vertical dimension of faith—had gotten so wrapped up in their own religious experience, so immersed in some higher-plane awareness of God’s majesty and sacramental mystery that, somehow, they had stopped seeing the hurts and needs of people. Or maybe they had gone too horizontal—had interpreted their faith in terms of service and activism and concern for issues that they had forgotten about loving God.

So someone in that community—we call that person “the elder”—wrote this epistle which obliterates any neat distinction between vertical and horizontal and instead just begins and ends in this remarkable statement: “God is love.” We may assume that that statement is common throughout the pages of scripture, but, no—it’s only here. “God is love,” says the elder.

Why did the elder write that? I think it was because of the coming into our world of Jesus Christ—God’s evidence not of our love for God but of God’s love for us. And here’s the clincher: “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.”

“There is no life that is not in community,” wrote T.S. Eliot, “and no community not lived in praise of God.” Is that kind of life more vertical or more horizontal? I believe that the author of this epistle would answer, “Yes.”

Merry Christmas!

Reverend Dr. Philip Browning Helsel
Associate Professor of Pastoral Care

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For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.

We hope that you are preparing the way for the Lord in your life as you read these meditations and prayers. And, we hope this Advent season is a meaningful one for you. Please know that Austin Seminary’s dedicated, diverse, and loving community of faith is not complete without you. Did you know?

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