We celebrate that God was born into the world–that God took human form. So, what does this mean? This deceptively simple question has profound implications.
Maybe the incarnation is like performing a piece of music. To perform a piece is to make way for it to live right here, right now, in the fingers, in the strings, in the voice, in the vibrations, in the air, in the space between us, in the open spaces of our hearts and in our bones and sinews. It resonates in memory and emotion, it moves and lifts us, carries us along and in its beauty may very well call us to be more true to what is good and right in all of us.
Maybe Jesus is the heart and mind of God sung into the world so on this road to Emmaus we may walk and listen until our heart strings vibrate and proclaim the same song. God has drawn so close as to be one with us. By this, we become his instruments singing his song from the very marrow of our bones.
As Christians, we are incarnational people. We are God’s presence right here, right now in a hand reaching out to welcome a stranger, in a smile, a listening heart and in the stories of love we live and tell and sing. How we live is our answer to the question ‘what does the incarnation mean.’