Incarnation and renewal
Christ took on our perishable flesh to redeem us for an imperishable life with him in his coming kingdom.
One of my earliest memories is of Christmas 1957. I was just short of three years old, and our family was living in a rented one-storey bungalow on Pershing Avenue in Wheaton, Illinois, then on the outskirts of town. We had a tree in the front bay window facing north, and the five of us – there would eventually be eight – opened our gifts that morning. We children received a collective gift of a child’s-height black wooden table accompanied by matching chairs, including a rocking chair. Because the rocking chair kept on tipping over backwards, my father – then only 29 years old – attached a bow-shaped metal piece to the back of the rocker to solve the problem. I’m not sure that it actually did so.
As I approach age 68, I am increasingly aware of the fragility of our earthly existence and that our years on God’s earth are limited. My father has been gone for two years. His younger sister died in October at age 90. My mother is in a nursing home near family in Massachusetts and is confused much of the time.
Since May I have suffered from severe shoulder pain that is limiting my activities and preventing me travelling far from home to visit her. Moreover, I find November and December depressing months, with darkness enveloping our northern hemispheric latitude for so many hours each day. In such circumstances, it is easy to become discouraged.
Our numbered days
Nevertheless, as a cradle Christian, I, along with the rest of the church, have rehearsed the redemptive story embedded in the church calendar for nearly three score years and ten – so many times that by now its cyclical patterns have become a source of comfort and stability. Advent anticipates the coming of Christ and is quickly followed by Christmas.
Christmas is succeeded by Epiphany, followed by Lent, and then Easter, in which we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Then comes the long season of Pentecost, when we are called to remember the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in renewing the larger creation (Ps.104). Then it begins all over again.
Might we ever weary of this cyclical series of celebrations and recollections? Weariness does increase with time, to be sure. At my age I tire more easily, and my physical stamina is not what it once was.
Yet we recognize that we will repeat this pattern for so many times only. As the psalmist puts it, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on thy servants!” (91:12-13 RSV).
As we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, let us remember that God in Christ took on our perishable flesh to redeem us for an imperishable life with him in his coming kingdom. For this we can thank God as we await that day.
