{"id":3885,"date":"2008-12-21T00:10:51","date_gmt":"2008-12-21T00:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/4th-candle-of-advent.html"},"modified":"2008-12-21T00:10:51","modified_gmt":"2008-12-21T00:10:51","slug":"4th-candle-of-advent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/4th-candle-of-advent.html","title":{"rendered":"4th Candle of Advent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today we relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath &#8212; the candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY.<\/p>\n<p>Now we light the fourth candle of Advent. This is the candle of LOVE.<!--more|inline--><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"imagelink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/blue-jeans-020.jpg\" title=\"blue-jeans-020.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/2007\/12\/blue-jeans-020.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"blue-jeans-020.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jesus demonstrated self-giving love in his ministry as the Good<br \/>\nShepherd. Advent is a time for kindness, thinking of others, and<br \/>\nsharing with others. It is a time to love as God loved us by giving us<br \/>\nhis most precious gift. As God is love, let us be love also.<\/p>\n<p>In the Book of Deuteronomy we find these words:<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great<br \/>\nGod, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who<br \/>\nexecutes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the<br \/>\nstrangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the<br \/>\nstranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.<br \/>\n&#8212; Deuteronomy 10:17-19a <\/p>\n<p>From the Gospel of John we hear:<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I<br \/>\nhave loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will<br \/>\nknow that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8212; John 13:34-35 <\/p>\n<p>Let us pray:<br \/>\nTeach us to love, O Lord. May we always remember to put you first as we<br \/>\nfollow Christ&#8217;s footsteps, that we may know your love and show it in<br \/>\nour lives. As we prepare for our celebration of Jesus&#8217; birth, also fill<br \/>\nour hearts with love for the world, that all may know your love and the<br \/>\none whom you have sent, your son, our Savior. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today we relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath &#8212; the candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY. Now we light the fourth candle of Advent. This is the candle of LOVE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>4th Candle of Advent - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/4th-candle-of-advent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4th Candle of Advent - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today we relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath &#8212; the candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY. Now we light the fourth candle of Advent. This is the candle of LOVE.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/4th-candle-of-advent.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-21T00:10:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/blue-jeans-020.thumbnail.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"4th Candle of Advent - Jesus Creed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/12\/4th-candle-of-advent.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"4th Candle of Advent - Jesus Creed","og_description":"Today we relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath &#8212; the candles of HOPE, PEACE and JOY. 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