I think that Christmas gets better with age! Not the Santa part, but my appreciation of the depth of the beautiful gift of God in Jesus. I am struck this year by the implications of the mysterious miracle that God chose to be resident in flesh and blood, like our own.
As the SRP staff, we’ve been reflecting on the very physical
aspect of Christ’s incarnation and the good news that God came to dwell with
us, in human form… and our need to experience value and healing in how we
relate to our own bodies. I think about
our own stories and those who come to us for help. Consider…
·
The teenager who cuts, mutilating her body, in
the hopes of expressing and releasing her pain.
·
The sex addict who, seeking intimacy, becomes
more disconnected relationally and increasingly at odds with the good of his
sexuality.
·
The sexual abuse victim whose body was violated,
and how she carries this pain in her body and mind.
·
The man who overeats and misuses food, coping
with emotional pain, and developing a myriad of health issues.
·
The woman who compares her body to the
airbrushed media version and disdains herself.
·
The person who is preoccupied with social media
and internet relating, lacking face-to-face contact and the accompanying eye
contact, hugs and hands to hold.
Listening for and responding to the real needs of the body
brings healing. After all, God created
the body as good and desires to restore wholeness. Religions too often teach their followers to
disdain the body. The incarnation of
Jesus does just the opposite; Christ’s coming underscores the sacredness of the
human body. In Jesus’ coming as a human
being, God Himself inhabits the bodily human experience. Awe inspiring! We hear echoes of the declaration made in the
creation story that, “It is good!”
Jesus does not save us from our humanity; He saves us from
our sin. And He saves us so that we can
be fully human. Not only does God shout
out that the human person is His most prized creation, He goes even further to
say that the body is now His temple, His sacred dwelling place.
This Christmas we celebrate, with wonder and awe, God’s
incarnation. We celebrate this joyously
in one of my favorite Christmas hymns, Hark
the Herald Angels Sing:
Veiled in flesh
the Godhead see;
Hail, the incarnate deity,
Pleased as Man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Hail, the incarnate deity,
Pleased as Man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
Indeed the newborn King is glorious, and He ushers in the
era of God-with-us, in our flesh. At
SRP, we participate in the tender and compassionate ministry of
Jesus, listening deeply to the heart, soul and body to bring healing to the
person and their relationships.
I hope
that this year as you celebrate Jesus’ birth, you experience how much God loves
you… in the flesh, Catherine
