Greetings in Christ,
Love caused your incarnation;
Love brought you down to me.
Your thirst for my salvation
Procured my liberty.
Oh, love beyond all telling,
That led you to embrace
In love, all loves excelling,
Our lost and fallen race.
LBW - Hymn 23, v. 4
Dr. Lee Snook, a professor at Luther Seminary, thought this verse from the Advent hymn, O How Shall I Receive Thee, to be the heart of the Father's purpose of salvation. God holds this love in His heart for all created in His image.
The divine love of the Father for us becomes flesh at the birth of Jesus. God's love made flesh lives, suffers, dies, and is raised for us. Our salvation is more than a payment for sin, balancing the scales of divine justice, and restoring God's honor. The love living in the Holy Trinity enfolds us through Jesus, born of Mary in Bethlehem.
The Church has lived in and witnessed this incarnate love throughout its history. It continues to be our joy and responsibility as we observe the season of Advent, enter the joy of the Lord's Nativity, and devote our lives to living out the divine love the Father has sent.
Blessings,
Pr. Hatcher