My annual Advent reflection

I post this during Advent most every year, because I continue to be amazed by this every year. Think about it and see if you aren't, too.

Easter is considered the most important feast in the church year, but I admit to having more of a "soft spot" in my heart for Christmas. Not the lights or the trees, not the carols or the gifts, but the thought of God taking on the form of a helpless baby.

Imagine that.

God - the all-powerful, the Creator of the universe - became an embryo, totally dependent on Mary for his very life blood. The Lord of Lords, born in a manger because there was no room for him. The King of Kings, relying on his subjects for food, shelter, guidance, and (perhaps at times) discipline. The God of Glory needing to be changed and bathed, learning to walk, falling down, perhaps learning to read...

Can you imagine yourself as Lord of the universe becoming humble like that? I know I can't. Contemplating that sort of humility fills me with wonder.

The Incarnation is also remarkable in that it shows that God - our Creator - was willing to trust his very existence to man. Not just to Mary and Joseph, but to the community at large... for it does indeed "take a village" to raise a child.

Jesus - fully God and fully man - allowed himself to be open, trusting, and vulnerable. The cynical response to this statement would be to point out that Jesus ultimately suffered an ignominious death at the hands of man, and this, of course, is true. But Jesus ended his earthly life in the same fashion it began: open to the will of God, and trusting his Father in all circumstances.

May we do the same!