Incarnation
According to the dictionary incarnation means personification – becoming a flesh and blood person, becoming concrete or real. Christmas celebrates the fact that God has become real to us by becoming flesh and blood, to show solidarity with us and to come alongside us to help us. There’s something about coming alongside others to help that makes people real. It makes the faith we declare real. It makes the love we aspire to real. It makes our feelings of care real. It makes other people more real to us. It makes our understanding of their circumstances real. All that also makes us real – as people and as Christians. There is no better way to remember and celebrate God’s incarnation – the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ – than to make it real by coming up alongside others to help them as Jesus did. That helps us to take our minds off ourselves – our disappointments, our desires, our losses, pains and grief. We move out of that “self” realm when make plans and take the time to come alongside others to help them in the ways they need. It also helps us to be mindful of Christ’s birth in different ways.
There’s no better way to make Christ present, here and now, than by thinking of Him while we spend the time to help others more needy than ourselves, especially at this time of year. That was always the way in which Christians from the Middle Ages thought of Christ’s return. For the better part of 1,000 years the return of Christ was portrayed, not in apocalyptic terms, but gently coming up alongside others, incognito, either to bring help or, more often, poised to need help. The message: those who give help to strangers in need meet, greet and honor the incarnate Christ in the process.
Toward that end, and so to enrich everyone’s spiritual life and celebration of the incarnation of God, St. Paul’s will be offering a few opportunities to help strangers in need at this holiday time. We will be purchasing food, packing Christmas Food Baskets and delivering them to needy households in the local community on December 21st and 22nd. Come and join our hard work for others; enjoy good fellowship and fun along with other members of the parish.
This year, we will also be hosting a Christmas Giving Tree program at the church. We’ll set up a Christmas tree in the Parish Hall and “decorate” it with tags of local children and families in the community who can’t afford presents. Those tags will include information about the recipient(s) and their wishes. Simply pick a tag, get the appropriate presents. The presents are to be brought to the office upwrapped and with the tag attached to it by Friday, December 11th. More details will be forthcoming soon.
We’ll also be selling crafts made in Africa, this holiday season. They’ll be provided by African Ministries, and all the proceeds from the sales will go to the people who made them and communities where they were made. The crafts will be on display in the Parish Hall. I’m sure you’ll find some perfect presents among the wares. I’ve been in conversation with the pastors of other North Kingstown churches to work together to offer a weekly meal to the community throughout the winter months. This is just in the initial planning stage, but please let me know if you have any interest in offering your time to prepare and/or serve food.
So the word of the month is incarnation. Let’s celebrate our Lord’s incarnation by incarnating His love!
Affectionately in Christ,
Phil +