Nebraska Synod ELCA

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
(John 1.14 – NRSV Updated Edition)

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.”
(John 1.14 – The Message)

“God was not too pure to enter the world.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Beloved in Christ,

The season of Advent is here, and with it comes a question that has always fascinated me: what does it mean for God to become incarnate? Why would God want to bother with being born? Swaddling clothes? Diaper rash? Puberty? There are so many things about our bodies and our lives embodied in them that seem so incredibly embarrassing and unseemly; are we meant to believe that Jesus knew – and perhaps wanted to know – what it’s like to have body odor?

We believe and confess that God did, in fact, enter this existence as a person in Jesus of Nazareth, taking on our human form and becoming present in flesh and blood, just like all the rest of us ever have been and ever will be. How it worked remains a mystery we will only receive by faith. What it means is a question we have been answering for thousands of years, and will continue to do so for however many years remain until Jesus returns.

One of the things I believe about God’s presence in Jesus is this: God means for us to see this world as a realm worthy of God’s presence. This is an idea with which we have struggled, particularly those philosophical strains within human thought that have mistrusted bodies and preferred to believe that there is a way to escape or separate our minds and our souls from this inferior flesh in which we are somehow held captive. The incarnate Jesus stands against this idea, and also against the idea that this earth in which we live and from which we are made is somehow lesser, a realm to be escaped rather than enjoyed.

Perhaps one of the reasons Jesus was born in a stable rather than a palace was to hallow the very earthiest of circumstances with his presence. When I was a farm kid whose chores included mucking out hog houses and feeding cattle, it never once occurred to me that the odors that came with that sort of work would have been present, perhaps strongly so, on that holy night so long ago in Bethlehem. God entered this messy, dirty, smelly, imperfect world and blessed it by being fully present here: we should do the same wherever we go in this messy, dirty, smelly, imperfect world.

O come, O Child of Mary, come,
who once was pleased to make this world your home.
In flesh and blood you lived to bless,
embodied lovingkindness.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Immanuel shall come to you, O Israel.

If the Word believed that taking on flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood was good, then so should we believe that being fully present in our own lives is good. Go and be present, dear church. A blessed Advent and Christmas to you all.

Yours in Christ,
Bishop Scott Alan Johnson