Loved, to Love


This past week at echo, we talked about how God’s love for us enables us to express love for other people.
Loving other people is one of the hardest things we can do, especially when we define love as an other-oriented, unconditional, self-sacrificial attitude. Often in our lives, there are people we find it easy to get along with, and we can quickly point to that comfortable friendship or relationship and say that we love that person. Other times, people hurt us, and we daydream about punching them in the stomach (if you are the type of person who wants to appear nice all the time). Or we actually do punch them in the stomach (if you are the type of person who enjoys coming off as aggressive)! Strangely enough, that violent, vengeful feeling is an indicator that we are being presented with an opportunity to self-sacrifice, with an opportunity to demonstrate agape.
As part of the covenant that God made with Abraham, God said:
“I will bless the entire earth through your descendents.”
That line stands out to me. God intends for the people of the Kingdom to be a blessing to the entire earth! This means we have the privilege of demonstrating self-sacrificial love to all those around us. In difficult relationships, we do our best to forgive, and to reconcile. This can be an intensely painful process, especially when it means we actually need to sacrifice, and we actually need to change! This is our role as Kingdom people. We demonstrate to the world what it looks like to have whole and peaceful relationships among ourselves, as members of the body of Christ. God loves us, and trusts us to be agents of his love and healing in the world. God sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and partner with us in this task. As God’s love lives in us, may we look outward and show that love to those around us.
Students in the Moka Room, join us at the Jackson household for an afternoon of sledding and winter fun! We’ll meet at the Jacksons’ at 2, and get picked up at 6.



Hey friends,
Echo is cancelled tonight - Wednesday, December 9 - because of the snow and dangerously low temperatures forecasted for tonight. May you all be warm and indoors tonight!! See you next week.
Advent means “waiting” or “preparation.” Advent in the season in which we wait for the birth of Christ. We’re not alone in our waiting. God’s people throughout history have waited for God to act, have waited and trusted Yahweh for deliverance. The people of Israel waited, enslaved, crying out for deliverance from Egypt. Again in the time leading up to the birth of Jesus, God’s covenant people find themselves in their homeland, but under roman occupation. The religious leaders fight to keep the status quo and the poor and oppressed cry out to Yahweh again. Yahweh hears the cry of the oppressed and this time sends himself to deliver, restore, and heal the human wound. We too wait for the return of the King, to bring justice, life, hope and complete restoration of all things. We have written a guide for families to use during advent to help remember our story, make room for the King, and look forward with hope and anticipation for his coming again. You can download the guide in the links section in the left margin of this page. Peace on earth and good will toward all mankind.