Merry Christmas! As we’re still in the midst of this Christmas season, we continue to reflect on the mystery of the incarnation. I would like us to ask a simple yet fundamental question, “Why does the incarnation matter to us?” Some might say doctrinally, “The incarnation is the most important teaching of Christianity.” It really is but I want to know why it matters to us on a personal level and how it affects our personal lives. It is a simple truth that we can only care about something when that something has some impact on our lives. In other words, for the incarnation to matter to us on a deeply intimate level, it should bring some radical transformation in our lives. Otherwise, it is just a mere concept that really has nothing to do with our lives.
There is only one way to keep this mystery of the incarnation as living and real, which is to experience it. All of us are to experience the mystery of the incarnation personally. No one can do it for you. Only you can do it for yourself. Understanding the mystery of the incarnation intellectually doesn’t do much to actually change our lives. It is important to make sense of it, yet again it can become a true wisdom only after you experience it. Experience the mystery of the incarnation first. Then try to make sense of it intellectually. Experience it again with that understanding, which will be deepened by both experience and knowledge you gain from that experience. Continue this process until it truly becomes yours, not just some spiritual knowledge but spiritual wisdom. Then, my original question of why the incarnation matters to us can be answered. It matters to us because it transforms us. Or we can say, according to Paul Yoon, he says it matters to us because it is SUPPOSED to radically change us. Then another logical question follows, “Are we able to experience the incarnation mystery ourselves?” Yes, we can. The collect for today explicitly tells us this: “Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word.” The new light of the incarnation is poured upon us. This light is God’s very presence in us, being one with our very being, God’s eternal union with us. This, we call “grace,” because there is nothing that we did to have it. Grace is something that we receive from God without having to do anything. Grace is free of charge. But there’s something we are to do. The next line in the collect for today mentions what we are to do: “Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives.” While the new light of the incarnation is already poured upon us, meaning it is given regardless of our merit or worth, whether it is to be enkindled is up to us with the help of the Holy Spirit. Then, what’s at stake is how we set this new light of the incarnate Word/Logos on fire, which means how we become more attentive and aware of this new light. This spiritual exercise of being attentive to the new light of the incarnation can be called “contemplation.” Simply put, it is to look at the new light. The more we look at it, the more we sense its presence. The more we are aware of its presence, the warmer it gets. There are many ways to do this. You can repeat a phrase over and over again. The Jesus Prayer is a good example. One repeats, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” As one utters this prayer repeatedly and mindfully, one is solely concentrated on one important thing, the new light. Focusing on breathing can also be another good example. Breathing in and out at the same pace helps us concentrate. Some might use the method of Centering Prayer in which one repeats one simple word. Whichever practices one uses, the purpose of doing it is the same. It is to raise one’s awareness of the new light of the incarnate Word by which I mean one’s awareness of God’s eternal oneness with us on the most intimate and personal level. Where we can get in touch with the new light of the incarnation, it is where we feel the unconditional love of God. Just as the new light of the incarnation is poured upon us solely by God’s own initiative to which Jesus of Nazareth revealed, it is the very place where we experience God’s love. This love is the source of all kinds of love that manifest among parents and children, families, and friends. One common expression of those who have experienced this love of God through the new light of the incarnation is that they call themselves as “God’s children.” St John in today’s gospel lesson tells us God gave power for us to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God That power is the new light of the incarnate Word/Logos. Again, this is not the power that we ourselves created, but was given from God alone. All we gotta do is to see it, to be aware of it, to be attentive to its presence. St Paul in the second lesson talks about the same thing. I’ll read it again for us: “...when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” When we reach deeper into the new light in us, we experience love and call that love as love or Abba Father or Amma Mother or whichever word that comes true to our hearts. Looking for the source or the root of our being seems to be our natural human desire. Yesterday on NPR, I read an article about U. S. adoptees returning to South Korea to trace their roots.* I will post the article on our facebook page so that you can listen and read it if you’re interested. One of the tragic and heartbreaking comments that one of the adoptees shares is that “I feel like I was sold. I feel like I don’t know who I am. I don’t even know if my name is real or my birthdate is real.” Their stories tragically show us how not knowing the root can hurt us so deeply. This pain coming from not knowing one’s root or identity is not just limited to the adoptees but happens to all of us whenever we aren’t sure of ourselves, haunting ourselves with guilt, shame, or any kind of self-attacking inner voice, or when the foundation that we wished to last forever is shaken. But for us Christians, the gospel, the good news is this mystery of the incarnation. The new light of the incarnate Word/Logos is poured upon us. This new light can never be extinguished. This incarnation mystery of God being one with us is eternal. During this Christmas season, I encourage all of you to be more attentive to the light, be more aware of the light in your hearts. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN. *The NPR article can be found here: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/27/775355015/feeling-like-we-belong-u-s-adoptees-return-to-south-korea-to-trace-their-roots?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwAR3C4zhfKjUA8OU7SMTi-OxbBScxZq0k2K2G429iDwUvJBuHzxMIQm_gGg4 Culturally, Christmas in America is one of the most festive seasons. Families and friends gather. This family gathering in particular can be heartwarming or stressful or both. Some of you might have been kindly forced to come to this service. I know I am quite guilty of that since I very kindly invited my family. And they really didn’t have a choice this time. I am very grateful for that as well as for those who just had to be here! This past Sunday, some people asked me how long this Christmas service will be. I told Nancy to give me a sign if I seem to go too long. She will start looking at her watch, and I will take that as a cue.
Now, let’s reflect on Christmas. Christmas, as we know, is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Yet, that’s not everything. The main reason why we celebrate this particular birth in a theological sense is that God has revealed God’s eternal union with us through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. The core message of Christmas, the birth of Jesus is then the mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation is God’s way to be in union with humans. This idea of God uniting God’s very own self to humans, however, requires some logical thinking. Think about our companion animals. Imagine a puppy named “Sir Topham Hatt.” In order for me to fully experience what he really experiences, I somehow need to be just like him. But I can’t. I’m so helplessly human. One way to do is to do my best to communicate, yet there’s always a barrier I cannot cross. Now, this is something God must have had trouble with us. God cannot be human, yet God can communicate with humans by creating, since God can create all things, the very human nature to be one with humans. Imagine you’re creating some part of yourself that helps you fully grasp Sir Topham Hatt’s experience without having to become a dog because you just can’t. This idea of creating some part of you to fully experience Sir Topham Hatt’s experience, after all, can only come from love. In this sense, the incarnation reflects God’s compassionate desire and love to be one with us. This incarnation is as ancient as the entire human history because there has never been a single moment that God has not been one with us. We might not have been aware of this eternal oneness between God and us due to our ignorance of it, but it doesn’t change God’s unconditional love and desire to be fully united, to be in union with us. Don’t get confused that the incarnation began with Jesus. It has begun even before him, but Jesus fully revealed this mystery of the incarnation. Chronologically speaking, this revelation of the mystery of the incarnation actually begins with the Blessed Virgin Mary. God became incarnate in Mary, meaning God was one with Mary in her womb. The Annunciation to Mary really is the very beginning moment that this incarnation mystery is revealed. When we look at the 13 or 14 years old Jewish girl who is pregnant, in the eyes of faith we see God’s oneness with Mary. And Jesus of Nazareth whose birth we celebrate this evening fully reveals the mystery of the incarnation which was hidden. It’s like the incarnation mystery hidden in the womb of Mary, and that mystery is fully shouted out through the baby Jesus’s first cry. Both Mary and Jesus show us God’s eternal oneness with us. This is the core message of Christmas. Emmanuel. God is with us. My friends, our Christian faith is founded on this very truth of God being with us, Emmanuel. Christ is in the innermost depth of our being. Christ is very alive and present in your heart whether you feel it or not. We Christians believe that Christ is at the center of our being. This eternal oneness of God with us is what sustains us, what keeps us going whether we recognize it or not. It’s not over there but right here in us. It’s just that we don’t know it’s here because we haven’t been paying attention to it or we have been told otherwise. When this most intimate presence of God’s oneness is revealed to our personal lives, we are transformed. This transformation is the very reason why people followed Jesus. Have you yet found Christ in you? Christ is waiting to be born in your very being. Which takes back to the scene of the Annunciation again in which the Archangel Gabriel told Mary she would conceive and give birth to Jesus. In a sense, all of us are called to be in the place of Mary, saying yes to the eternal union with God. Yet, this doesn’t happen automatically. It requires a spiritual practice of being attentive to God who is sustaining your being, longing to be seen and communed deeper and deeper. We need to practice how to go deeper first to encounter God in us, which we do here at Saint Agnes Church once a month. This inward movement restores, rejuvenates, and recharges us. Only then, we are to go outwardly to practice our love for others. All that we do as Christians for others in need come from this very source of Christ in us. I can sense that Nancy is about to look at her watch. During this Christmas season, I invite all of us to sense God in us and ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart. Our personal and intimate experience of God in us is like the most precious treasure of God hidden in you, waiting to be found. There’s nothing better than this because it is God’s unconditional love and desire to be one with us. Not even death can set apart from it. What can be more precious than that? It is the very source of who we are and what we do. And as we receive Holy Communion, we are transformed into Christ because God created us to become more than we are, which is Christ. So, my friends, may Christ find you and fulfill you. This eternal oneness of God with you be abundant in your life with others in the act of sharing. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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