Every
year the Churches Advertising Network produces a poster to remind the
world that Christmas starts with Christ...and very often they provoke
controversy.
You will probably remember that some years ago, there was Christ as Che Guavarra – with the caption “Meek? Mild? As if...”
In
2010 it was the rather wonderful image based on a scan – the unborn
infant's head clearly showing the halo that represents his
divinity....and this year – well, this year it's the Godbaby.
You
may well find it distasteful...specially if, like me, you REALLY
dislike baby dolls and forbade your children to use “wee” as
anything other than a Scottish word for “small”.
But
that's fine
The
point of the adverts is to shake us and disturb us...and actually,
that's the point of Christmas too.
The
Word was made flesh
and
flesh is messy, often embarassing, prone to ills, ageing,even death -
and
yet it is in this form that God enters our world.
And
yes – the baby Jesus will indeed have done EVERYTHING that any baby
does...
Forget
the assertion “The little Lord Jesus no crying he makes”
He
was a REAL baby
He
cried, and gurgled...kept his mother awake and relied on her for
life itself because that's what babies do.
He
made himself totally vulnerable – dependent on human love for his
very survival, this Godbaby in the manger.
Dependent
on the hospitality of Mary's womb and the rough and ready welcome of
a crowded town.
Dependent
still on our hospitality- and if that doesn't shake you, then frankly nothing will.
The
power that brought the universe into being, that holds the stars in
their courses and knows when a sparrow falls, depends on us to
welcome Him and to make His love known in the world.
John's
gospel speaks to us of 2 births...Christ's
entry into our life – and ours into his.
Listen
“But
to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to
become children of God,who were born, not of blood or of the will of
the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
So
human life is changed utterly as we experience that new birth and
accept our kinship with the Christ Incarnate –
made flesh – 2000 years ago in that stable in Bethlehem and
incarnate now in His Church – in you and me.
He
shares our humanity – even our irritating, unreliable bodies – so
that we may share his divinity....becomes what we are, to make us
what HE is.
We experience this week by week as we receive the life of Christ in bread and wine but today we celebrate that moment when earth and heaven collide and all things are changed forever.
And
the word was made flesh and dwelt among us – and we saw his glory.
The
glory of God in a human baby – full of grace and truth.
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