Christmas and the Incarnation

A fellow Episcopalian, the Rev Elizabeth Kaeton (telling-secrets.blogspot.com) "can’t imagine claiming to be a follower of Jesus without belief in the Incarnation." The orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation, which is detailed at Wikipedia:

"Briefly, it is the belief that the Second Person of the Christian Godhead, also known as the Son or the Logos (Word), "became flesh" when he was miraculously conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. In the Incarnation, the divine nature of the Son was perfectly united with human nature in one divine Person. This person, Jesus Christ, was both truly God and truly man. The incarnation is commemorated and celebrated each year at the Feast of the Incarnation, also known as Annunciation."

Many Episcopalians do not hold strictly to the orthodox definition. However, I have a strong rationalist streak, and I confess I am pretty agnostic as to the orthodox versions of Incarnation and the Resurrection. In this, I am definitely in the minority among Christians. Rev Kaeton said in her blog that she thinks belief in the Atonement is optional, but belief in the Incarnation and Resurrection is not. Most Episcopalians likely believe in all three doctrines in some form. Perhaps I am right, perhaps I am wrong, perhaps I will be struck by lightning after I post this. Regardless of what happens to me, I would like to offer us a complementary take on the Incarnation.

Elie Weisel is a Jewish humanitarian and Holocaust survivor. He tells, in his book Night, of an insurrection in a concentration camp that was put down. The next day, the guards took several people out to be hung on a gallows, two men and one child. The adults died fairly quickly, but the child was light, and it took him half an hour to choke to death. The guards forced the prisoners to march by the gallows.

"For God's sake, where is God? Where is He?" asks the prisoner behind Wiesel. Wiesel found himself unable to answer. The adults were dead, their tongues hanging out, but the child was still struggling.

And then, Wiesel heard a voice within him answer the other prisoner, "Where is God? Here he is, hanging on the gallows..."


And so, perhaps it doesn't matter if Jesus wasn't conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin's womb, if he was not resuscitated after three days, or even if he was not God incarnate. What matters is that when Jesus was crucified, somehow, God too was crucified. When Oscar Romero was assasinated, God was killed with him. When children die in Africa of starvation, God dies of starvation. Conversely, when we feed someone who is hungry, we do it to God. When we give aid to one who is sick, we do it to God. When we visit one who is in prison, we do it to Jesus, who deliberately identified himself with "the least of these." The Incarnation is a Mystery ... and whatever that Mystery contains, we Christians all see the definitive revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ, even if we disagree on the specifics.


On the Mystery of the Incarnation, by Denise Levertov:

It's when we face for a moment
the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know
the taint in our own selves, that awe
cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart:
not to a flower, not to a dolphin,
to no innocent form
but to this creature vainly sure
it and no other is god-like, God
(out of compassion for our ugly
failure to evolve) entrusts,
as guest, as brother,
the Word.

PS. If I do get struck by lightning, we'll know I was wrong on this one.