My church has taken a very non-traditional approach to Advent this year. Starting with the Sunday just prior to Thanksgiving a partnership with Compassion International for sponsors in Ecuador was rolled out. It really has been very beautiful and a wonderful counter-balance to the consumerism that has engulfed this season here in the United States. The hope that Sunday was for 500 children to gain sponsors through those attending. Over 800 children now have sponsors that, hopefully, will impact the poverty these children live in.
The second Sunday of the series funds were raised to build a church/school in one of the cities where many of the sponsored children live. Again, the hoped for goal was surpassed by nearly double the hoped for amount.
The final Sunday folk were encouraged to consider joining a planned mission trip to Ecuador for next Fall. Again, the number of people expressing interest was exceeded by a large percentage. It really was beautiful to experience the willingness of our congregation to get behind this concerted effort to alter a cycle of poverty in one small part of our world, especially at this time of year when too much emphasis is on receiving.
Having said this, I must admit I missed the traditional approach and look at the familiar passages from Matthew and Luke that outline Jesus' birth. I picked up a great book of daily devotions that I've been using to help me focus more intentionally to this season. But I approached this last Sunday hungry to hear a traditional sermon regarding the cause for our celebration. I was not disappointed.
At the top of our sermon notes was the opening of John's gospel.
The word became flesh
Made His dwelling among us
We have seen His glory
Glory of the One and Only Son
Came from the Father
Full of Grace and Truth
John 1:14
(Editing and format mine)
I wrote words in my journal as I listened, listened to Phil, and to God's voice. I wrote this:
Incarnated in such a way that He can be missed; God in hiding, hiding not well if we search and seek with eyes of faith. Hidden nonetheless in human flesh, disrupting smug religion couched in "knowing secrets". He's out in the open, poured out for us to find, found through God-invited faith fueled by desire for truth and grace.
I know it seems odd to think of Incarnation as a form of hidden-ness, but the babe was missed until shepherds arrived having been prompted by an angelic visitation. It would take years before His true nature was recognized and even that was incomplete until resurrection.
I think that was the plan all along, hidden in flesh but out in the open, poured out for us in such a mysterious way. The mystery of Incarnation, fully God and fully man, is not something we can really grasp. It was the plan, a plan that invites us to accept by faith. Without faith we can never please God and it begins at the manger, a lowly birth, actually we can hardly imagine a more lowly birth among animals and in a feed trough. It is really scandalous when one thinks of it, yet that was the plan. He came in the dark of night, born to completely uproot our enemy and his stronghold.
It is this hidden-ness and this passage that has captured my thoughts and this short passage has now become my favorite nativity passage this season of Advent, 2019.
