Advent is so much bigger, deeper, wider than the season of four weeks before Christmas! And Incarnation is so much bigger, deeper, wider than the birth of Jesus in a stable!
I understand that the Church has tried to invite us into the Awesome Mystery of the Incarnation by dramatizing the story of the birth of a savior, but unfortunately, we have gotten stuck in a very limited expression of the reality of God's love.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines advent (not capitalized) as "coming into being" and incarnation (apart from theology) as "made manifest or comprehensible." I am blown away by the similarity of the meaning of these two words! Genesis 1 is the story of the "coming into being" of our Universe. The Creation story is the reality of God "being made manifest or comprehensible." God speaks and light comes into being. God speaks again and again and again and the sun, the moon, the heavens, the earth, the sea, dry land, plants, animals, and humanity "come into being". Each element of the Creation filled with the Creator's breath and "made manifest or comprehensible." WOW! WOW! WOW!
And then because humanity misses the magnitude of the Divine nature and Presence in Creation, God becomes Incarnate - manifest or comprehensible in the humanity of the Christ Jesus. In the humanity of Jesus, God experiences all the indignities, pain and suffering that individuals in this world experience and more. This was not an effort to change God's mind about humanity from being damnable for our sins but to change our minds about God from a angry, punishing, deity to the reality of the lavish, extravagant loving Presence that has always been with us. In the words of Paul:
"Immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us" (Ephesians 2:4 - The Message)
May this Advent and Christmas season be time during which our awareness of the wonder and the mystery of the Immense Mercy and Incredible love that are still "coming into Being" be manifest and more comprehensible be heightened, deepened, and broadened beyond our wildest imaginations.
