Welcome to the season of Advent: the season of waiting, joyful expectation, and anticipation!
I’ve explained in years past that Advent comes from a Latin word meaning, “coming” or “arrival.” When we celebrate Advent, we are not celebrating the birth of Jesus (ok, a little bit we are). Instead we’re celebrating and looking forward to Christ’s return at an unspecified time in the unknown future. While we remember and celebrate the history of Christ’s birth, we are much more focused on the return of Jesus in the unknown, unspecified future.
Advent brings to mind a big church word which is a central claim of our faith: the incarnation of God. Incarnation, another Latin root, means “to be made in flesh.” It refers to our eternal, just, and creator God showing up in Christ who lives in our flesh to dwell in our space and time. Fascinatingly, the root in Latin is a verb, an action. And that’s what I want to focus on here.
To incarnate is to be fully embodied, in flesh, in a given situation. Christ, for example, was incarnate and lived among us humans for about 33 years. Put a different way, God lived with us in our body type in our recorded history and ate our food, breathed our air, drank our water, and lived our life.
The church, Christ’s body that still visibly lives on the earth after his ascension, is also an incarnational body. We are a body of bodies and God lives in our body (the Church) and in our bodies (as individuals). Where we go, God goes with us. God didn’t merely dwell in Christ; God dwells in us too.
That means, when we put our hands on food, blankets, clothing, toiletry items, Christmas gifts, Thanksgiving bags, etc. those are God’s hands too. When we show up at Sunday Suppers or Our Neighbors’ Place, or the women’s shelter, God is showing up too. We’re not alone; we’re not doing these things for ourselves. We reach out with human hands that extend from human bodies that are inhabited by God.
The theologian and Bible translator Eugene Peterson helps us to understand this concept beautifully in his rendering of John 1:14a, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” We accomplish this too when we serve others in God’s name, seeking God’s constant love and presence to exist not just in us, but in all people and all situations.
So, here’s my encouragement for you all during this season of Advent: be incarnate. Be present. Exist in the moments of life with God and with others. There’s no greater way to practice being incarnate with others than with and for our shut-in church members. Give them a phone call and see how they’re doing; ask if you can stop by and visit for a little while; sign up to deliver a poinsettia and ask to stay and catch up on life with them. Be a visible presence of God for others, even those of our own church family.
Remember, for others, you may be demonstrating Christ to them. You may be the only visible image of the invisible God just as Christ was and is our perfect image of our perfect God (Colossians 1:15). No, you’re not Christ. None of us should ever claim to be or think that we are. But we can be as Christ for and with others. We can embody the God who loves us all, calls us to life, and shows up “in the neighbor-hood” just as Jesus did…and will again.
May you find yourselves incarnate during this Advent season…and every season of the year. May God live in you and be poured out to the world through you. May Christ be present and active as you are. And may we all receive the fruits of the Spirit to do this holy work.
A blessed Advent (and Christmas) to you all!