Why The Incarnation Matters 1

“O come, O come, Emmanuel . . .”

On Christmas morning, Christians all around the globe celebrate God’s love coming into the world in the person of Jesus Christ.  What does it mean for us that God chose to enter the world in flesh and blood — incarnate — through a poor baby in Bethlehem?  We invited a dozen theobloggers to consider the question:  “Why Does the Incarnation Matter?”  And we asked them, as usual, to do it in 100 words or less.  We’ll share their lovely responses on Faith Forward over the next couple of weeks.

Here, Amy Julia Becker of the blog Thin Places offers her thoughts:

“God is love.”  When my mother-in-law was dying, she needed people to place ice chips in her mouth and rub lotion on her body. When my children were babies, they needed us to rock them to sleep and change their diapers. I prefer sentimental statements to dirty hands and tired limbs. Jesus may have preferred to stay away from this world of stables and carpentry and crucifixion. But the Incarnation shows me that God’s love isn’t abstract. It is as concrete as a baby in a manger, as a young man in a temple, as a rabbi on a cross.

Read the rest of the responses to “Why The Incarnation Matters” here, and join the conversation.

Amy Julia Becker is working on a book that will be published next fall, A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny (Bethany Books).