In the flesh

Two years ago I missed Advent completely.  I had serious complications following a surgical procedure early that November, and I was out of commission for two months. There is so much I learned during that time - about grace, about receiving pastoral care from the congregation I served as pastor, about humility, about human frailty, about vulnerability, and so much more!

During my recuperation during those weeks, several passages of Scripture became important to me... along with many prayers that came from a number of different sources.  One verse, however, struck me in a more profound way than it ever had before.  It was a verse that I had read countless times before.  It was a verse that I had read in Christmas Eve worship services for years and years.  It's not that it wasn't meaningful before this time, but it struck a chord deeper within me than ever before.

The verse reminded me to what extreme God was willing to go to love me.  The verse reminded me that God in Christ - Immanuel - truly was, as the earliest Church Councils affirmed, not only fully divine, but also fully human.  Perhaps I simply had taken Jesus' humanity for granted.  But during those weeks, as I prayed and meditated during my physical rehab and exercises, the fact that Jesus was human - had a body just like mine, experienced joy and sorrow just like me, felt elation and pain just like me - touched my soul and gave me hope.

The verse?  It's the one we know by heart... which you'll hear or read or (I hope) think about tomorrow sometime:  "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."  May Jesus, born of Mary, fill your heart, your mind, and your body this day... all days.

Blessings and peace,

Steve