The love of Christmas
Published December 11, 2009
It is December and I have no idea where this past year went and Christmas is again almost upon us. That time has come again where on that special day we are surrounded by family and friends and enveloped in a feeling of trust and love.
As we go about our lives during the Christmas season we all unconsciously change our mannerisms and act in a spirit of friendship and benevolence to all those we encounter. What is that spirit of friendship and benevolence that we all feel ? I would say it is a spirit of love. I am not speaking in the physical sense of love between two people but that broader meaning of love where we embrace the gentler side of humankind.
I am positive that nearly all of you at some time in your lives will go to a wedding where the reading is from St Paul's letter to the Corinthians as recorded in 1 Corinthians 13. In that part he speaks of what love is. "It is patient, it is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight with evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres". He sums up that chapter by saying, "and now these three remain: faith hope and love, but the greatest of these is love".
Can you imagine the world if we chose to embrace these values of love throughout the days, months and years and in every part of our life? Think of the transformation that would occur; no more wars, no more violence, no more crime and no more of a lot of bad things. We have within all of us the capacity to hold those values and use them in all parts of our lives.
As we celebrate Christmas let us be mindful of the greatest gift ever given to us when God sent his only son Jesus, to not only redeem and save us but to love us. In dying on the cross for us and our sins, Jesus gave his life so that we, through Jesus, will one day live in His loving presence. As you enter the Christmas season I ask you to ponder on the love that God has for you. St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians said it best "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God".
May God abundantly bless you and your families this Christmas and may he also bless Strathcona County.
Peter Wlodarczak
Councillor, Ward 4
780-464-8146
wlodarczak@strathcona.ab.ca
Last updated: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Page ID: 1948