Online Advent Devotional -- 2014: The Creation

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

The Creation

Isaiah 11:7-9 — The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

The incarnation signals the beginning of a new creation, a new way that creatures relate to each other.

What is one implication of the incarnation for your relationship with God’s larger creation?

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The Mystery of Incarnation

Although I have always loved and respected Jesus, there was a time in my life when I completely rejected the doctrine of the incarnation. How could the creator of the universe become a human like you and me? That was pure silliness. Jesus was the greatest teacher, and was worthy of people following him. I could agree with that. But that didn’t mean that God was incarnate in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Part of my rejection of incarnation was the stage of life I was in at the time. Everything had to be rational, provable by scientific investigation. Everything had to be one thing, not two. Jesus couldn’t be fully God and fully human at the same time. I hadn’t yet learned to appreciate paradox and mystery.

But another part of my rejection of the doctrine of the incarnation had nothing to do with the rationality of the doctrine but with the implications of the event, if it actually had occurred. If God had been incarnate in Jesus, then my life, as well as my thinking, would have to head in a new direction.

One day, while meditating of the first few verses of the first letter of John (Dec. 24), I began to understand how it was possible for God to become flesh. That changed my thinking and my life.

During this time of Advent it is appropriate to meditate on the incarnation. We can be full of wonder and awe at the birth and life of Jesus. We can pray for the “little child of Bethlehem” to be “born in us today.” And we can submit ourselves to incarnation so that our spirit, our highest hopes for holiness and righteousness, take flesh in our lives here and now.