This past Sunday, I read the following prayer from the Austin Stone Story team related to Advent and the theme of love:
O GOD OF LOVE,
Stir our affections to the most radiant wonder in all of the world: the advent, the giving life and work in the person of your beloved Son, Christ Jesus.
He, the perfection of our eternal hope secured.
He, the glorious manifestation of exquisite, flawless, and transcendent love.
He, our Redeemer King.
When all creation groaned in plight, affliction, and death,
You gave us this holy night–
a newborn King,
a Prince of Peace, a heritage of hope.
When we feel unable to rise, too sluggish to respond, too content with the world’s shadows of satisfaction,
Steady our gaze on the cross,
Where Your inexhaustible, indestructible, all-consuming love is displayed,
Where Your perfect sacrifice paid the debt our sin accrued,
Where the light of Your love absorbed all darkness in us.
You have shown us love
from the beginning of time, through the ages, and for eternity forevermore.
We are saved, sealed, and satisfied
by Your love, through Your love, and for Your love.
O God, You are Love!
You are light and life, our greatest prize!
Your steadfast love is our eternal refuge.
You are our reason to worship.
Unabashedly, adoringly, with full voice and fervor we sing:
Praise be, to our God and King,
Our beloved, our fortress,
Our love and hope forevermore!
Amen.