Season of Advent

For the past few years, at our church's candlelight Christmas Eve service, a friend and I sing a duet of "O Holy Night". In our typical fashion, we rehearse approximately 24 hours in advance and usually seem to pull it off without too many hiccups. In our scramble to get prepared, I always forget how much I love that piece of music and am always struck by the beauty of the
third verse.
 

"Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace."

I think that verses nine and ten of today's reading from 1 Thessalonians are speaking about a very similar thing. In the version The Message, Paul's words are translated as such:

"Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You’re God-taught in these matters. Just love one another! You’re already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it."

I love when it reads, "Just love one another!"; Paul makes it sound so easy! Sure it's easy to love your friends and your family (well, sometimes...), but what about all of those other people? Who are my brothers and sisters and what does it actually mean to love them? I believe that every person is created in the image of God and is a beloved part of God's family. And as for the question of what it means to actually love, I have no idea. But that's where we have the encouraging and the challenging words of Paul. God has taught us how to love, it isn't something that we have to try and figure out ourselves, we only need to listen. The challenge comes in doing better, every single day. We can always be a little more hospitable, love a little more radically, and strive to live lives that continually work for peace.

-Sarah