Is Christmas Lost? ...

The eternal Word, maker of the universe, becomes a man (John 1:1-3, 14). He lives among us. He is God with us.

God becoming a human being is hard to grasp. My Presbyterian Church History professor asked, “How do you feel about calling Mary ‘The Mother of God.’” One of my classmates immediately objected. The professor responded, “Are you saying Jesus was not God in the Virgin’s womb?” “God bearer” is the more literal

“God bearer” is the more literal rendering of the Greek theotokos, a term used to describe Mary in the Definition of Chalcedon (451 A.D.). The idea is both simple and mind-blowing. God was in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

Jesus as the eternal God become flesh is well expressed in “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Charles Wesley, sweet singer of Methodism, writes, “Christ, by highest heav’n adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, Late in time behold him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the God-head see, Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel!”

Lutherans confess in Luther’s words, “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.”

The Athanasian Creed, the third ecumenical creed of the early church, says of Jesus, “…our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and man.” The Creed even uses the words “uncreated,” and “eternal” to describe the Son.

Christmas is only lost when people forget that God becomes one of us in the person of Jesus. May your Christmas celebrations, in church and home, speak out the wonder of the incarnation.

(Editor’s Note: This column is written by a different Littlefield pastor for the Leader-News each week. The columns are published on this page on Wednesdays.)