Incarnation

Our icebreaker was to share a personal Christmas tradition. We started by lighting an Advent candle and reading an Advent prayer. Jn 14:9-11 & 1:14 recapped the divinity and humanity of Jesus. The "word" in Jn 1:1 & 1:14 is associated with God through Gen 1:3 where "God said . . .". "Logos" today is the root of "ology" as in "biology" and implies the study of. It had the same meaning in NT times with the added implication that reason comes from the mind of God, which is purposeful, ordering and generative.

Incarnation as revelation is the epitome of Marshall McLuhan's "The medium is the message". Jesus is the medium and He is the message. We sat in a circle and the teacher today, Simon, lead from a sitting position to illustrate what Christ did in coming among us instead of speaking down to us.

Incarnation as commission has implications for our approach to the Great Commission and evangelism. Jesus came among us and stayed with us. Neither evangelistic meetings nor short-term missions emulate the incarnation. Lifestyle evangelism and long-term missions are closer.

Incarnation as illumination brings order to our lives. In Dale Allison's talk on CBC about his book, "The Luminous Dusk", he encourages us to get away from the bright city lights to see the stars. If we don't see the stars, we give up, and focus on the artificial lights around us instead. The incarnation implies we should instill divine order into our lives.