Love | Week 1 of The Core of Christmas

The season of advent is not the same as cultural Christmastime. The hope of the advent season and the anticipation of the Christ child’s arrival gives us wonderful gifts of love, joy, and peace. But instead of a world full of love we often encounter relational conflict and strife. There’s “us” and “them”, and even “us” is far from unified. Wouldn’t it be great to have a Christmas that is marked by love instead of division? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year are what we wish for others but what if we could have real, enduring joy? And amidst the chaos at the end of the school year, the rush to get gifts, and preparing for travel, our holiday can easily become filled with anxiety instead of peace. Join Damascus Road for the Core of Christmas and learn to live hopeful lives overflowing with love, joy, and peace.Week 1 of The Core of Christmas

Teacher: Derrick LyonsWe live in a world increasingly defined by division – political lines, cultural clashes, social media echo chambers. It's easy to slip into an “us vs. them” mindset, where love is reserved for those who agree with us, look like us, or make life easy. But Christmas should be a time of unity around what really matters: love. The love of God made tangible in Jesus' birth transcends all boundaries. It's not passive, soft, or sentimental - it’s bold, sacrificial, and unifying. This week, we’ll explore what it means to live the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated when he came to earth as a baby boy, transcending all boundaries of divine and human, defying expectations of who is worth it and why, and revealing the truth that God is for the whole world. This love reaches across enemy lines, lays down pride, and refuses to treat people as categories or threats. In a fractured world, God is calling His people to be known, not by what we’re against, but by how we love.