[A ‘Tuesday Challenge’ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during December 2024]
Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be
The sweet love story that is older than the sea?
These words, composed by lyricist Carl Sigman, were written to give a vocal counterpart to the theme from the 1970 film, ‘Love Story’. Various artists have made both the tune and the lyrics very popular. But can there really be a ‘love that is older than the sea’?
To be older than the sea takes us back to the records of creation in Genesis. There we see that, in the beginning, there were two entities: God and ‘the waters’. The sea as we know it, with its boundaries, its fauna and flora, its temperaments, had yet to be created.[1] But even back then God had plans for us:
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Ephesians 1 v4 [NKJV]
That certainly qualifies as a love that is older than the sea but what happened to the ‘holy and without blame’ bit? That too was part of God’s plan but, through ignorance or deliberate intention, mankind has failed to match up to the required standard.[2] Thankfully, God had a contingency plan, and that began with the absurdity of Christmas.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
Galatians 4 v4 [NLT]
His coming provides a way for those who believe in him to have eternal life and be blameless before God. Surely, an event worth celebrating.
Some have argued that Christmas is just a religious reinvention of a secular festivity that was established around 500BC when the first Saturnalia festival was celebrated. Our modern commercialised version is indicative of the celebration returning to its secular origins; how can we demonstrate that ‘Love came down at Christmas’?[3]
Christmas has a sequel – Easter. That was when the Son completed the task that he was sent to do. By giving his life for those who were not yet ‘holy and without blame’ he demonstrated a love that exceeded the limitations of our vocabulary.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5 v6 [NIVUK]
Returning to our opening lines we see the writer asking how he can quantify the magnitude of the love that he is describing. Jesus Christ already had the answer:
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15 v13 [ESVUK]
Christmas is indeed a good reason to celebrate, how much more we should celebrate that which is to come.
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me is the current of His love
Leading onward, leading homeward to His glorious rest above.
Samuel Trevor Francis, 1834-1925
References:
[1] Genesis 1:9, 21
[2] Romans 3:23
[3] Christina Rossetti (1885)
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys