Thankfulness for the incarnate God
Celebrating Christmas in prayer
Someone once asked me what my favorite holiday was. And do you know what I said?
Halloween.
And, in their shock, they asked me why it wasn’t Christmas.
My reply was that Christmas has become so commercialized that Jesus isn’t even the point anymore.
And, holy cow, can we talk about Christmas for a second?
This mysterious God I’ve been going on and on about this week was born.
The infinitely infinite and singularly singular God…the fully and completely and wholly divine Other…was carried for (roughly) 9 months and then born.
God.
In the flesh.
All of that infinite vastness of God, wrapped up in blood and amniotic fluids and sweat and humidity and probably covered with some dirt and hay germs and bacteria…
…all because God wanted to be with us.
And yet, we all get excited about flashing lights and fun wrapping paper and making a toy elf do funny things every night.
And the sheer…awesomeness…of the incarnation is staring us in the face.
I’m doing a poor job of putting my thoughts into words and, rather than edit and re-write and edit some more, I want this raw stream of consciousness to feel stumbly and fumbly.
Because I am struggling to wrap my head around what the incarnation of God in the form of Jesus means.
And we should be fuddled by this.
It doesn’t make sense on paper. It should be impossible.
And, yet, here we are…celebrating this absolutely insane moment in time and history…
…because God had a plan to step closer to us.
And that meant Jesus had to encompass God in the flesh (and points to what is coming in Easter).
And, especially at this time of year, much of our time in prayer should be spent praying in thankfulness for the incarnation of God through Jesus.
My prayer for today
Our Father, thank you for experiencing the breadth and depth of what it means to be human. Jesus, thank you thank you thank you for coming to us. Spirit, help keep this thought in front of us over these finals days before Christmas. Amen.
Remember
Take time, with someone, and celebrate and be thankful for God’s plan to become flesh-and-bone human alongside us, to wrap God’s vastness into such a small package. It’s powerful to share our thankfulness together.