The Miracle of the Incarnation – 12/15/2024

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Welcome and Prayer: Jim Calhoun

Come Lord, join us here this morning.
Every breath is a gift.
And so is everyday.
The moment by moment
Connection with you
The life abiding
Our lives abundant
With you
In you
Have us crying out in joy

Yes, there are challenges
And sometimes we feel our joy being taken from us
By circumstance
By the grind of financial pressure
By the pain of physical or mental illness
By the challenge of relationships
By a world gone wrong
And they pull us away and we lose focus
And our joy fizzles
And we turn aside
As if, somehow, we know better.
Let our focus be you
Your coming
And your coming again
Your presence just now
Your long considered care
Your tender affection
Your good great love
Knowing every raindrop is a gift
Every morning sun
Every gentle breeze
Every shining star.

Knowing nothing can separate us from your love
That you are with us always
Redeeming us
Healing us
Making us whole
And it is enough
More than enough
to fill our hearts
With joy
Amen

Morning Talk: Eddie Pioreck

THE MIRACLE OF THE INCARNATION
The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God
became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.
C. S. Lewis, “. . . In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the
heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity . . . down to the very
roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created.” (C S Lewis)

Incarnation literally means “embodied in flesh…or taking on flesh”
The union of the Divine Nature with human nature…as the Son of God assumed our
flesh, body and soul.

Anticipation of the Incarnation

The fortress will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;
citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever,
the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
till the Spirit is poured on us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest. Isaiah 32:15

The words, “to come upon” is an idiom used in the Septuagint (a translation of the Old Testament into the Greek language). This same idiom recurs in the famous prophecy of Joel:
And it shall come to pass afterword,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh . . . . (Joel 2:28-29)
You might remember that Peter quoted this verse on the Day of Pentecost to explain what was happening to Jesus’ disciples in the temple (Acts 2:14-18)
Word Bible Commentary, “This is the eschatological coming of the Spirit that will cause the wilderness to become a fruitful field.” (WBC)
This prophesied coming of the Spirit looks forward to the transformation of all
things through the Incarnation of the Son of God. All of Creation eagerly awaits
His Coming.

Announcement of the Incarnation

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” 
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her Luke 1:26-38

Prior to Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, Israel lived in expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promise that he gave through the prophets. This is now the unfolding of his promise. So this is a big moment when Gabriel delivers the message.
The angelic announcement to Mary, that she had been chosen to conceive the Son of God while
still a virgin, is understandably a bit overwhelming, eliciting her question of “How?”

The answer, in the same language as Isaiah 32:15, is that, the Spirit will come upon you
and the Glorious Power of God will bring about the Great Incarnation that will change
everything.
Word Biblical Commentary, “By the sheer power of God a child will be born whose origin is not that of normal human generation.

The moment of the miraculous conception is hidden in the silence of Scripture while John
makes clear the result:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)
The Greek New Testament has two words for “flesh”; soma refers the physical body, but sarx, though it is related to the body with is needs, drives, and desires, is used (especially by Paul) in reference to the human condition, which by nature resists God (Romans 8:3-8).
That the “Word became flesh” tells us that Jesus entered fully into the depths of what it means to be human.
Paul comments on the Mystery of it all:
“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world, taken up in glory (1 Tim. 3:16)

Apprehension of Incarnational Presence
(My Franciscan tendencies will become obvious in this next section)

What has happened, is that God has come to us, entered into the heart of our humanness, and what is left for us it to become aware of this miracle. We apprehend the Incarnation on three levels.

Personal Level

Jesus promised his disciple that the Holy Spirit would “come upon them” and they would “receive power”
(Acts 1:8)
Jesus was using the same “come upon” idiom we found in Luke 1:35. On Pentecost they are filled to the
depths of their personal being. Paul’s description of the result of God’s Spirit dwelling in us and coming upon us is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27)
Richard Rohr suggests that the Spirit fills us to a “cellular level.”

When I began to experience the Spirit of God in this way, it opened my eyes to a whole new reality. A whole new way of being in the world. The Spirit works in the depths of our being, bringing to life the peace, mercy, love, goodness, and all the other spiritual virtues and fruits.

Panoramic Level

In Colossians, Paul speaks of Christ as being “before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). Jesus does not exist outside of our lived experience of reality.
The way I imagine this, is that Jesus is sort of the “Cosmic Glue” that, to a subatomic state, holds the material universe together.

A few of the Psalms express the wonder, the goodness, the faithfulness, even the joy of God in the natural world. Paul picked up this revelation, and though less poetic, but every bit as profound, he wrote:
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20). When we know this to be true, the world around us opens in new ways.

During a period of uncertainty, I walked the beach near our home to clear my mind. I know that asking for a sign from God can seem silly, but I did it anyway. Suddenly this osprey, with wings spread wide, was gliding over my head. Right then I understood that God not only speaks to me through the Scriptures and quietly within my heart and mind, but through the natural world around me. He assures me of his presence, his faithfulness, and his love. Since then, there have been other times when, not a dove but an osprey has brought the goodness of God to me. I am now trying to make as many of those connections as possible.

The Presence of Christ in creation is a mystery, but his Presence can manifest itself in wondrous ways to the contemplatively aware.
Bishop Kallistos Ware, “The creation in its entirety is God’s handiwork; in their inner essence all created
things are ‘exceedingly good.’”

People Level

Humankind bears the “imago Dei,” the image of God, and as such each person has intrinsic value
and a spiritual inscape. (Gen 1:27) When we see persons at that divine depth it is
possible for the miraculous to happen! It could be “blurred,” but it’s there.

When we see others in this way, we are seeing them through the eyes of Jesus–family as well as strangers, enemies as well as friends. Everyone unique, everyone valuable, everyone reflecting something of the God who created each one of them.

Thomas Merton describes such a moment:
“In Louisville…in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed
with the realization that I loved all these people…There is no way of telling these
people that they are all shining like the sun.
“It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in
everybody, and if we could see these billions of points of light coming together in
the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life
vanish. I have no program for this seeing. It is only given.”

Benediction

Blessed be your name, our Lord and Christ,
May your Glorious Presence within us, warm our hearts,
and open our eyes to see the wonders of your love
permeating the beauty of Creation,
and mankind created in your image.
Amen