Dear sisters and
brothers,
“For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human.” Nicene Creed, the Hymnal p. 104
On many Sundays, especially in Advent, Christmas, and Easter, we recite the longer form of the Creed in our worship. The second section is dedicated to the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus. And this particular line encapsulates the glory of what Christmas really means: “He became truly human.”
Jesus is Lord, of course. We celebrated his ultimate sovereignty over all creation on Christ the King Sunday just before Advent began. But Jesus is not only God, he is human. Truly human. He had skin and bones and hair and blood and cells and DNA and all the rest. Christianity is the only world religion that makes the completely audacious claim that God is both divine – the essence of perfection itself – and completely human, with all the same messiness and challenges that every one of us has.
It was ancient practice that, at the phrase et incarnatus est, “and became man” in the Creed, that everyone would bow in recognition of the mystery of the Word Made Flesh. St, Augustine famously wrote, “God became man that we might become divine. “ And we don’t just celebrate the Incarnation - the “enfleshment” just on Christmas Day. We’ve all heard the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The Twelve Days aren’t, as some assume, the twelve days before Christmas, but they begin on Christmas and for eleven days after as well! My prayer for all of us this Christmastide - all twelve days of it - is that the mystery of God with Us will fill our hearts and souls and minds with joy and wonder.
Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to All!