As I write to you on Christmas Day, I am filled with words which have been offered over the centuries - the words of human beings who have wrestled with the Birth, the Nativity of the One who is utterly God. Many of those
words have had special significance for me, as my soul has sought to take in the mystery of the Word made Flesh.

Frederica Thompsett, noted theologian and church historian, wrote a book about three years ago entitled COURAGEOUS INCARNATION (published by Cowley Press, it is still in print and I highly recommend it). The title alone commands our attention. Courageous? Whose courage is the issue here: God’s (to boldly come amongst us in the person of Jesus) or ours (to absorb as best our feebleness can...and then to welcome this coming)? Surely, there is courage on both sides: our courage comes from the grace of the supreme courage of God, who risked being a vulnerable baby: small, fragile, tender.

What Dr. Thompsett has her finger on, I believe, is a deep truth which is uniquely Christian: in Jesus Christ, God has drawn so near to us that there is no longer any barrier between we who are human and the One who is divine. No longer is God remote and inaccessible, but now breathtakingly close and deeply involved in every human concern.

I think of the times when I have tried to exclude some part of myself from God, rather like a child who hides the comic book or muddy dress or forbidden treat from the penetrating inspection of an IMPORTANT ADULT. I think of how much work it is to do this hiding, how much effort which I might spend in some other, holier, way. I think of the fear of being cast out which motivates this urge to be distant. And now, with the bit of wisdom which years have begot, it comes clearer to me that there is nothing in all of my humanity that God does not know intimately. That is the Gospel; the Good News that God in Christ has drawn so near as to erase forever that distance which we seek to keep between ourselves and God, that zone of safety by which we pretend to hide from the God who comes to us in Jesus. Knowing us fully, God yet loves us immeasurably. I scarce can take it in.

It is a great act of courage to move beyond all these human efforts to KEEP A DISTANCE. But let’s throw caution to the winds. Let’s take a step forward in this new season to welcome Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh.
Let’s banish all pretense, erase all efforts at hiding, surrender all of ourselves to this One who came so winsomely among us as a Child. Let’s grope with tentative fingers to hold fast the radical notion that God chooses to be with us because that’s what God’s love is like. Intimate. Courageous. Close. In this love, we can be honest, authentic and free as we live together. For love of us, each of us, and all of us together here in Maine;  God comes near. May Jesus be our Courage and may Nativity Blessings enfold us all in each season of our life together.