Reflection: How Loud Is Your Love? (December 2, 2012)

1st Sunday in Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 19:28-40


Although devices to amplify the human voice had been around for a few centuries before Thomas Edison’s invention, his was the first to be called a megaphone. Made up of two Greek words, megaphone literally means “great voice.” The sole purpose of a megaphone is to make a person’s voice louder (i.e., greater). In a way, every Christian is called to be a megaphone of sorts. Our lives are meant to amplify the Word of God. We are especially called to loudly proclaim the Gospel by serving in an overflowing love “for each other and for everyone else” (1 Thess. 3:12).  Such a calling raises the question, “How loud is your love?”.

Measuring our loving service in terms of volume shows that many of us have been pretty quiet — but not the good way of serving without fanfare or reward. “How loud is your love?” isn't asking about doing loving works quietly. Rather, it’s asking about the frequency and intensity of our love. How much of ourselves do we put into loving each other? What amount of our time, financial resources, and productive abilities are invested in serving other people as our service to Christ? What are we risking in order love to people outside of our circle of family and friends? These are the measures of how loud our love is.

While our love is often muted, the love that God has for us blasts out with a deafening roar. He loves us so much that He took on human flesh and entered our world of suffering, sin, and death. Turning up the volume of His love, Jesus assumed the guilt of our sins and humbled Himself by taking our place, even enduring the mockery and humiliation of crucifixion. From the Cross He cranked the volume up all the way in His triumphant proclamation, “It is finished!” Breaking the silence of the tomb, His love blared out His triumph over the grave and the certainty of eternal life for all who trust in Him. How can we stand quietly on the sidelines while the world desperately needs to hear of His love? How will they hear if we do not broadcast the good news over the noise and confusion of our world in words and deeds that loudly proclaim His love? Our calling is to be His megaphones, to amplify His love in our world and to join with those who have loudly loved through the centuries and across borders so that all people would know that they too are loved with the loudest of loves.

Audio file of the sermon "How Loud Is Your Love?"