God became man. The Word became flesh. Unto us a child was born from heaven above. It’s the heart and soul of the Christmas story. It’s the Incarnation, where God takes on human form and becomes a suffering servant for the sake of the world.
Yet the story of the manger in Bethlehem is not only about incarnation but also about innovation, which comes from the Latin innovatio, meaning to make new and to change. It’s the fusion between flesh and future, where the Christ-child was born among us and born to renew us. It is the start of a movement that is about grounding AND generating; embodying AND evolving; dwelling AND directing; adopting AND adapting; and moving into the neighborhood AND making all things new.
The Christmas story is about a creative disruption, subversion, and revolution. Here are ways in which the story does this:
The place of birth, Bethlehem, known as the “least among the clans”, becomes the epicenter of the divine becoming human. And the birth takes place in a manger, a feeding trough. There is nothing grandiose about where the birth occurs; it happens on the margins and the vulnerable spaces of our world.
The characters in the story also demonstrate God's innovative and unprecedented work in the Christmas story. First, there is Mary, an unmarried teenager from Nazareth, who becomes the mother of Jesus. Yes, she is betrothed to Joseph, but this is highly unconventional. God chooses the humble, the willing, and the lowly to birth a messianic movement unheard of before.
And Joseph, he could have followed the letter of the law and brought about serious repercussions for Mary, but he chose compassion over convention, mercy over judgment. A new way of righteousness is embodied in the life of Joseph.
The Magi, foreigners, follow a star which leads them to Jesus, where they bow before him and offer gifts. These Magi are from a different land and faith tradition, yet come to the manger and worship Jesus. Religious and ethnic boundaries are crossed. An innovation of inclusion is revealed. What incarnation welcomes, innovation widens.
The shepherds became the first evangelists, a group of people who were not highly educated and not considered part of the elite society. Yet, they have the privilege of carrying this most wonderful news.
The story of Christmas is a powerful portrayal of innovation, where the margins of life and society become the center stage, and God begins to move and speak in powerful yet subtle ways. It has been said that, “love incarnates by drawing near; love innovates by breaking open.” This love draws near to those on the fringe and then breaks forth with transforming and redemptive kingdom work. It is this transformative power of love that inspires hope and fuels our faith in the Christmas story.
To love is to be “all things” incarnational and innovative. It “bears all things” and “endures all things”; it enters into the lives of people, embracing, embodying, and shouldering their pain and challenges, carrying them forward to new possibilities, to a new future, because it “believes all things” and “hopes all things.”
It is the dance between flesh and future, incarnation and innovation, that changes the world. And we are invited into that dance.
At Chemistry Staffing, we love helping churches with that dance, embodying the fullness of the Christmas story, throughout the calendar year in all they do. If we can be of help and encouragement to you on this exciting yet challenging journey, let’s connect and have a conversation.