152. The One Who Made Us Came To Us
Incarnation sounds like such a difficult word--ecclesiastical and weighty, academic and esoteric. The word seems far removed from the festivities of Christmas, either in their more secular and commercial expressions or in the carols and pageants of the season. Incarnation derives from the Latin, meaning “to become flesh, to give something a bodily form.” It’s the heart of the Christmas story. The Word became flesh and lived among us. God out there or up there ceased to be merely a philosophical abstraction and walked with us in a person. God has come to us. Jesus, the ultimate self-revelation of God, fully God and fully human, is a pretty hard concept to communicate, and yet fundamental to how we understand our faith.
A risk for people of faith is to so emphasize the spiritual and miraculous qualities of the story of Jesus and the uniqueness of God’s revelation in Christ, that we overlook the essential human elements and forget that Jesus really was flesh and blood, an eating, breathing, crying, laughing, hoping, fearing, working, playing person. Jesus was a person, a real and tangible human being, or else all of this makes no sense at all.
This Advent I’ve been drawn to contemplation on Mary and the birth of Jesus by a couple poems written by a friend, John Thornburg. John is a pastor, songwriter, and teacher who now specializes in congregational singing (see www.congregationalsinging.com).
The Word Made Flesh
His heels stretched her skin.
His fingers poked her from inside.
With joy we say,
Ave Maria…
Benedictus fructus ventrus tui.
Blessed is the one who came from your body.
He was her real son, no metaphor adrift in space.
When time was ripe, and death was near, he said,
“This is my body, given for you.”
He learned these words from her.
Called to Ponder Mystery
If everything were known,
if we could quantify the ‘why,’
explain the ‘how’ and name the ‘when,’
then nothing would remain
but naming who was rightest of the right,
and blaming those who got it wrong.
Know this alone;
Emmanuel.
The One who made us came to us.
It is enough.
As human beings, each one of us is unique to an extent that no member of any other species is different from others of its kind. Our experiences, thoughts, perceptions, gifts, abilities, appearances, insights, wills, fears, hopes, and loves are ours alone and uniquely. And yet in our following Christ, God’s spirit takes bodily form again and again. The weighty notion of incarnation repeats itself joyfully and gracefully as we give God’s spirit room and allow God’s spirit to give us life anew and to call us forth. Our lives in Christ are infinite expressions of a singular birth.
I will be praying for our congregations and their people this Christmas. May our music and candlelight and Christmas lunches and soup kitchens and prayers and worship services give tangible expression to the miracle of God’s presence with us once more.
Yours in Christ,
rs
1. Gary L. Phillips wrote on 12/24/2009 12:27:09 AM
Thank you Bishop for these helpful and insightful thoughts. You made this difficult concept understandable; this is a gift in this time of seeking to understand once again the presence of God in Christ in our midst. Thank you again.
2. patty smith wrote on 12/24/2009 10:40:21 AM
thank you and Merry christmas, You said this so well I will share it at our Candlelight Service as an insert we will have many from the Community usually some unchurched persons as well that i pray will be touched by this insight thank you and blessings
3. Sally McGinnis wrote on 12/24/2009 4:02:59 PM
Good thoughts Bishop. I was listening to Paul Harvey a little while ago and he used a parable about trying to get birds in a barn, but they were afraid of him this strange creature. It really brought the story to life how people feared God, but through a miracle he became human to reach out to us and draw us to him. Incarnate is such an important word in the story.
4. Dan Sullivan wrote on 4/14/2010 3:45:02 PM
I have just finished reading, “Our United Methodist Heritage” by Bishop E. Gerald Ensley. I also read John Wesley by May McNeer and Lynn Ward. My, what a Heritage we United Methodist are privileged to enjoy.
My wife is English. February 10th marks the sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. Her paternal grandmother, Nanna Dickerson, was born in Bristol, England where John Wesley replaced George Whitefield in open air preaching in 1739. I thought after reading Bishop Schnase’s Journal, what a coincidence. I have been reading about John Wesley and the bishop comes forth with this Great Truth. “The one who made us came to us.” Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He came to save us from sin and to lead us to Heaven where we will ultimately live with Him for Eternity.
My Christian friends, this is what it is all about. God, our creator of all things became Incarnate in Christ Jesus some two-thousand years ago. John Wesley, born in 1703, picked up on this Jesus way of Salvation and here we are today as the United Methodist Church.
Our Bishop Schnase, 2010, says: “I visualize our United Methodist Congregations becoming more, Growing, Truthful and Vibrant for Jesus and continuing in this capacity as we follow Him on the Glory way to Heaven.”
By Reverend Dan H. Sullivan
Retired United Methodist Minister
Springfield, Missouri
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