Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us

At Christmas time each year we remember God united his divinity with our humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.

God has visited this planet in person twice so far in our history. The first time was in Eden. God the Son appeared to us in his pre incarnate form. He walked with us. He spoke with us. He shared with us the wonder of creation. He invited us to complete our own creation by making a real choice to be his eternal companion.
Humans made a different choice. We chose to become God’s equal. There is no equal to God. God is infinite, eternal, the very source of life, the very essence of unconditional holy love.

In the effort to become God we lost the original blessing of being human. We plunged our species and our world into the chaos of rebellion, sin and death. The co-eternal Son left this planet. His Heavenly Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world to prepare for that very specific moment in time that we are gathered here to celebrate.
On this Christmas 2010 we remember and we celebrate the second time God visited this planet. This time, the co-eternal Son of God united his divinity with our humanity.

God the Son became a human being. He embraced our human nature in the most amazing and miraculous event. He fused his divine nature with our human nature in the very ordinary and incredibly miraculous event of conception, fetal development and birth.
Jesus Christ is one person with two natures. His divine nature is eternal. His human nature came into existence in a moment of time in the same way we come into existence.

The birth of God’s son as a helpless and completely dependent infant is an expression of Divine love, Divine Holiness, and Divine Compassion. The co –eternal of Son did not just casually visit this planet. He poured himself out for us so he could be one of us. He emptied himself of all the attributes human value most about God: knowledge and power. He came into the world as all children come into the world: naked and cold and fragile and dependent.

The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge to us that he loves us so much he has freely chosen to become one of us.

The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge that holiness is not condemnation. Holiness is unification. In Jesus Christ, God fully and completely identifies with us to experience life in all of its joys and sorrows as we experience life.
The birth of Jesus Christ is God’s pledge to us that he is real, he is personal, he is love, he is Jesus Christ.

Jesus entered into a world at war with itself. He came as the Prince of Peace.
Jesus entered into a world of fear. He came to offer faith.

Jesus entered into a world defined by the human will to power to command and control. He came to show us a life that is formed by love, a way of living that expresses itself through an attitude and an action of compassion.

Jesus just doesn’t have love or show love. Jesus is love. He is the eternal Beloved of the Father. That is why Jesus just doesn’t show us a way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.

That way is incredibly, almost scandalously, intimate and personal. God irrevocably chose to unite his divinity with our humanity so he could restore to us what we so foolishly abandoned. He has physically united himself to us so we may have the real choice to unite ourselves to him.

The gift of God to all people every
where is himself. In that gift lie all of the fullness of the original blessing God offered our species and our species rejected. In Jesus God not only tells us but shows us how our lives can be different if we choose the gift of the original blessing.

We see some of that blessing at this time of year. We feel the difference in the songs of joy and the hymns of peace. We hear that peace is possible and love is real. The Christ child reminds us of the innocence and tenderness we so seldom experience in our daily lives.

The image of Joseph, Mary and Jesus surrounded by animals, shepherds, Kings and angels offers us a alternate vision of how life can be different.

Savor the sentiments of Christmas. They are real. They are, as we all know, temporary. The Original Blessing the Christ Child brings is not temporary. The Original Blessing is a new life and a new way of living. It is a life characterized by the blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.

These are only some of the blessings the Christ Child brings to us and offers to us. We receive these blessings, these original blessings, these eternal blessings that never fade away, as we receive the one who embodies them.

Through original sin humanity chose to separate from God. In Jesus Christ God has chosen to unite himself to us. He now offers us a second chance to live the Original Blessing of Divine love. The second chance is the gift of Jesus Christ.

The Christ Child is more than an example of blessing. He is the blessing. He offers himself to us this time of year when we may be just a little more receptive to hearing the message. From the manager in Bethlehem he reaches across time to seek and to find each one of us where we are. The Christ child is the unconditional love of God offering himself to us.

The reality of God is his gift to us, to each of us, to all of us. It is the first Christmas present ever given. It is a gift that God continues to offer. It is the gift of eternal love in the person of Jesus Christ.