Christmas thoughts..

A Christmas Thought (12/17/13)

This is the time of year when by tradition we remember the incarnation. So many things have attached to the time we call Christmas with nothing to do with the meaning of the event so remembered world wide. At times it is easy to forget that this is about something as simple and commonplace as a birth. An event that will be replicated many thousands of times in the time it takes me to write this thought for you. For some this is a cause for celebration, for others a time of heart searching, but for all those giving and awaiting a birth it is a time that will not come without notice and every birth is in some ways an incarnation of that which was not at one time on Earth.

So what of this birth? Not a normal birth, a virgin birth. Not just a child, but a child of promise, a child prophesied and a child with a destiny of both joy, wonder and sadness. This was a life that would begin with cuddles, hope, straw and swaddling cloth, but would end in despair, rejection, thorns and nakedness. This incarnation was like no other though, for the one coming in flesh had been alive even before the world began, and His incarnation was merely a clothing of what had always been, in sinew, muscle, bone and skin. He laid aside incorruptible glory and took on corruptible flesh.

Angels would celebrate and proclaim this birth, the great and the small would take note of His arrival and come to kiss, or come to kill, but all would be mindful of this child. As a refugee or migrant He first grew in Egypt, escaping cruel persecution and genocide as the murderous spirit of Pharoah rose up again , and was played out in the actions of a Jewish king. Like Pharoah he murdered hebrew sons in the hope of keeping down the deliverer. He failed, and only served to prove that nobility is not always found in kings and that Rachel weeping for the loss of her children is a fearful painful thing.

So this Christmas remember this remarkable birth, who would grow up to be Savior and Lord. From His incarnation to His thorned coronation his power was not diminished at all. An obscure working class man from a small Roman province, who died young, with no money or power to his name in Earthly terms, no worldwide marketing machine, no internet viral presence. This man will be celebrated by billions of people in a few short days. For Christ the Second Adam, the Lord, the King, the Savior of the World still longs for those that still do not know His name or know the Gospel to come to Him, so that He can come once again.

For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. The life that would not stay in the tomb so cruelly sealed, the life that would not leave the people of the World helpless, the life that would make a way for us to be reconciled to God who were enemies and estranged, the life that is abundant and gives life to all who come to Him.

This is the best gift of all, the Christmas gift God gave to us all. Take it or leave it. Reject or believe it, but let every heart hear the truth of it this Christmas, and always.