Christmas is all about the idea that God became human, was made flesh, in Jesus of Nazareth. Now, there is a lot of theological conversation going on these days about the nature, and even the reality, of the Christian claim that Jesus, as the Son of God, was literally God incarnate. Many believers insist that this is a literal truth and an unalterable tenet of Christian theology. Many other believers insist that such a doctrine was not originally part of the belief about Jesus - that it developed gradually and only became widely accepted into the second and third centuries culminating in the adoption of the Nicene Creed in 325CE. Realistically, the elevation of Jesus to divine status, with a corresponding diminution of focus on his humanity, has given many followers an excuse to worship Jesus without following his example. After all, if he was God, how can we be expected to do what he did?

Whatever your theological understanding of the nature of Jesus, and however you see the balance between his humanity and his divinity, this idea of incarnational theology is true! I am not talking about some theological debate either. God takes flesh in the lives of each person. This has always been true and remains true today. Whatever else is true about the Christmas story, the essential and mystical truth is that God took flesh in the life of Jesus and, as a result, we have seen the nature of God in a human life.

I teach a Sunday School class call Life Journey. We've studied a lot different topics over the past few years. Currently we're doing a unit of study called Unpacking Our Lives. Each week, a member of the class invites someone to come in to the class and be interviewed. It feels very luxurious to spend forty-five to fifty minutes hearing about one person's journey and how they work out their faith in the course of living their lives. I am reminded each week that our theology is incarnational. We figure out what we believe in the process of living. God's Spirit takes flesh in the lives of people - including you and me.

I think the most important question to ask at Christmas, as we approach the manger of Bethlehem, is this: "Is their room in the manger of our lives for God to be born?" Is there room or are we overcrowded with our concerns and worries, our opinions, and our judgments to receive the other who knocks at the door of our lives. There is a second question that is very much like the first: "What is the nature of the child who waits to be born in your heart this Christmas?" My prayer for you and for myself is that we will love and nurture that child so that s/he will grow to maturity in our care and that you and I will become the persons we were born to be. May God bless you in this season and through the year to come.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.

--Jack Price

Return to the Enotes index