John Lennon was right, all you need is love.  While most of us live our days thinking we need something else, be that a new car, a better job, more sex or even world peace; what we need, what we really need is love.

I really find it ironic that Lennon, a man who openly opposed Christianity, had such a grasp of what Christ – and Christmas – was really all about.  Paul, under the inspiration of the author of love put it this way:  ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.’ (1 Corinthians 13:13).

This last week of advent before we celebrate Christmas, is symbolized by the advent candle of love.  That is, after all, what Jesus is:  love in the flesh.  Regardless of where he is, whether in a dirty stable or a king’s palace, whether walking along the fiery stones of heaven or through the dusty streets of Judea, whether sitting on the golden throne of heaven or hanging bloodied and broken on a wooden cross in Calvary, this Jesus that we are celebrating in just a few days is love.

He is love come down to earth.  Not another wise philosopher, not another rebel with a cause, and certainly not another narcissistic self-proclaimed hero; no this is the creator of the universe whose only agenda was to die … for you.  Nothing else.  How else can you explain him chosing to be born in obscurity, when the definition of world news meant hearing about the latest uprising in the village next door.  How else can you explain the ‘official’ proclamation of his birth to group of uneducated, obscure shepherds working third shift on the edge of nowhere.  And how else can you explain that those few that really knew him while he did walk this earth were each willing to share his same fate, the great majority being martyred for their faith.

Christmas is about the only thing that really matters:  Love – God’s unbelievable and crazy love for us, for you.  Love is all you need, and all that you need is available to you this Christmas in the man Christ Jesus. 

May you experience the very thing this Saturday that Mr. Lennon spent his entire life searching for and singing about.

Merry Christmas.  God loves you.

To the King,

David