Tag Archives: Incarnation

12.29.10 It’s All About the Cookies!

I love the season of Christmas.  It’s the time of year that tugs my heart to gather with my family.  This year was yet another fun and joyous time of being with my family and extended family.  I love the traditions that are in place and the memories that will be treasured for a lifetime.  Let me share one with you. 

Every year my Mother gets asked the following question, “Is Aunt Betty Ann coming with her Christmas Cookie Bouquet?”  My Mother is the great aunt to 9 nieces and nephews belonging to my cousin Carol (ages range from 2 to 21), and 3 belonging to my cousin Kathy.  As you can see, Carol and her husband took God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” rather seriously!  My Mother started a fun tradition years ago that all of her nieces and nephews love and that was to bring a special cookie for each child via a cookie bouquet.  These aren’t just ordinary cookies.  These are custom-made with Christmas themes and are baked and fitted on sticks (or “stems”).  Here was this year’s cookie bouquet (ignore the date!):  Since my cousin Carol didn’t have all 9 children in one year, the challenge for Mother over the years has  been coming with the right number of cookies. When asked “Are you coming with the cookie bouquet?”, her response is “Exactly how many nieces and nephews do I have THIS year?!”  The joy in this tradition is watching the kids approach the cookie bouquet to admire each of the cookies that will depict a Santa, or a Christmas tree, or a reindeer, or a snowflake, etc.  It is so cute how they just labor over the decision of which cookie they want!  So how do you know who gets which cookie?  We simply have a drawing for numbers.  This year there were 12 nieces and nephews, so 12 slips of paper were put in a basket so that each child could draw a number.  The one who draws #1 gets to pick their cookie first.  The one who draws #12 gets whatever is left!  Then once everyone has their prized cookie in hand, they all gather around my Mother for the group shot to show off their chosen cookie, which is always precious.  Here is this year’s picture (or go to http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=194415&id=100001592625717#!/photo.php?pid=194412&id=100001592625717&fbid=128478887215198 to view more)

12 Nieces and Nephews with my Mother

As I reflect on this Christmas celebration and those of the past, I won’t remember the specific gifts I received, but rather the laughter, my cousins singing their specials for the family, the sparkle in the kids eyes as they staked out cookies, the big smiles on the faces of each child as they opened their gifts,  experiencing the genuine love that is shared in our family, and just watching my Mother cuddle her 2.5 yr old nephew David.  If you look at her holding him, then you have a glimpse of how much love I experienced in my own home that just keeps on growing year after year! 

There is no question that there is a period of time during our celebration that Christmas is all about the cookies and watching the joy spread across the faces of my cousins as they chose their cookie, but there is also no doubt that Christ was present in this celebration.  This Christmas season I was impacted by the truth of Christ incarnate who came to dwell among us (John 1:14).  We celebrate Emmanuel, or “God with us”.  But the greater joy is that a great majority of my family has accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (John 1:12), so our celebration is about “Christ in us” and the bond in Christ that we share.  As I enjoyed building memories with my family, I couldn’t help but see Christ “incarnate” in each person in the room.  That’s CHRISTmas for me!  I am blessed beyond measure to have a family where the love and light of Christ shines bright and am so thankful that the Lord placed me in this family.   Thank you for indulging me as I share one of my favorite memories and traditions for this year’s Christmas.  I hope you had a very merry Christmas as well!

Blessings,

Lee Ann

12.7.10 The Fifth Gospel

I heard someone say, “There are five gospels, and four of them no one reads.  The fifth one read by many is YOU.”  During this Christmas season, I find myself asking, “What gospel are others reading in me?”  We all know people in our circles of influence who are unchurched and may not even be hearing the Christmas story, so how do we help them experience and not just hear about the Christ of Christmas?  

I have been pondering this while enjoying the Christmas messages during this Advent season.   I love hearing sermons at this time of year to see how pastors share the same, unchanging story of the virgin birth of Jesus and focus different characters in the story in fresh, new ways.  I found myself with a similar challenge as I was preparing the Sunday school lesson on John 1:1-14 last week, but the Spirit did not disappoint me.   John chooses to introduce the Christmas story by sharing that Christ dwelt above us (John 1: 1-3) before He came to dwell among us (John 1:14) as the God-man, i.e.  being  fully God and fully human.  This is what we call in the Christianese language the incarnation of Christ.  Christ dwelling among us by entering the world as a baby is what we celebrate during the Christmas season.  So it begged the question, “What happened after Christ dwelled among us?” 

If we get out our binoculars and look ahead to see how the Christmas story unfolds, we will see that  Christ did not come to dwell among us just to hang out with us as His creation, but rather  to hang on a cross as a sacrifice for His creation.  He came to pay the penalty of our sins so that those of us who believe that Jesus is the Son of God could be reconciled to God (I Pet 3:18) and enjoy the free gift of eternal life that comes with our profession of faith in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation (I John 5:11-13).  Once Jesus accomplished the mission of being the perfect sacrifice for our sins by shedding His blood on the cross, He was resurrected.   Between the time He was resurrected from the dead and His ascension back to Heaven, He made sure to meet with His disciples to prepare them for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).  The gift of the Holy Spirit is sealed within all believers the moment we declare our faith and trust in Christ for our salvation.  

So here is how Christmas has a brand new energy that is being experienced in a fresh and powerful way for me, and I hope for you as well.  Christ originally dwelt above us, then came down to dwell among us, and now dwells within His believers.  I have never attached the indwelling of Christ in me to the Christmas message, but this whole theme of incarnation just kept blossoming.  John 14:10(b) quotes Jesus, “…it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”  Jesus was telling Philip that God the Father was indwelling Him.  Christ was modeling how to live in our earthly bodies with the power and presence of the living God within us.  Now that Christ has ascended to Heaven and no longer has an earthly body, Christ is looking for bodies to indwell, and that is you and me!  (You may be yawning at this point and needing a seventh inning stretch here, but my spiritual adrenaline is rushing!)  I have known for years that Christ lives in me.  Galatians 2:20(a) says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”  It absolutely excites me to think that when Christ was in human form, His Father dwelled in him, and now that we are in our own bodies, Christ chooses to dwell in us.  As believers, we are the “incarnation” of Christ.  Since Christ parted with his earthly body, He is counting on our hands to be His hands.  He desires for our feet to be His feet, and our mouth to be His mouthpiece.  He wants to permeate every part of our being.  If you would like some inspiration around this idea through music, I invite you to listen to a beautiful benediction piece by John Rutter called “God be in my Head” that can be offered as a prayer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPQcRmN6hvg). 

Since there are people who have never read the four gospels, may we be the hands and feet of Christ as we go through this Christmas season to be the “fifth gospel” that draws people closer to Christ.  The power of the CHRISTmas story is living and dwelling in us!  If people can see Christ in us, then from the vantage point of Christ who is celebrating His birthday,  I can only imagine that He is having a very Merry Christmas indeed!  You have a very Merry Christmas as well!  

Blessings,

Lee Ann