Advent 2018 – 04
How do we deal with a theological concept like the incarnation… the mind-boggling idea of God becoming flesh? At Christmas, we sing about it.
Singing about it celebrates the reality, but it doesn’t encompass it fully nor does it even attempt to explain it rationally. We simply utter our affirmations loudly, in hopes that… in the hearing of God… that stands as enough.
Hundreds of years ago, an anonymous monk wrote a song that, though we often hear the tune and music of the carol, we seldom hear the words:
Let all mortal flesh keep silence
And with fear and trembling stand
Suffer nothing earthly minded
For with blessing in His hand
Christ our God to earth descended
Our full homage to demand.
When we ponder the reality that God became flesh, what is our response? One writer put it this way. “If the distance between the earth and the sun could be represented by the thickness of a piece of paper, then the distance to the nearest star would be a stack of paper seventy feet high. By the same measurement, the distance from one end of our galaxy to the next would be 310 miles. The Bible affirms that He, Jesus, “holds all things together by the Word of His power.” In other words, with a simple word all things hold together (including us) exactly as they are. And you want to ask this person into your life to be your personal ASSISTANT??
No, the devout old monk got it right. “Our full homage to demand.” We can only throw all that we have at His blessed feet and say, “Command me, Lord.”
“He holds all things together by the Word of His power.” (Hebrews 1:3a)
Prayer: Lord, as we draw closer this week to the celebration of Your coming into this world, remind me that it is You who hold all things together… including me. In Jesus’ amazing name I pray, Amen.
