Advent 2025: Week Four Reflection

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish by may have eternal life.  – John 3:16

This Week’s Reflection

What does love have to do with it?

Tina Turner’s iconic 1984 hit song, “What Does Love Have to Do with It?” asks the quintessential Advent question. What does God offering his Son to the world have to do with it? The answer: everything! God knows we can’t fully understand God’s extravagant, unconditional love, or how to fully love others, unless love has a name. So, God gave love an name: Jesus. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us: “God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are.” And, when we, likewise, love others like Jesus loves us, we gain a whole (abundant) and lasting (eternal) life. What does love have to do with it? Everything!

Written by Bishop Bruce Ough, UMHEF Trustee