Happy Birthday Jesus

This Christmas tree and almost all the ornaments are a gift from my sister Anjali A metal Christmas tree candle holder I bought from a crafts bazaar

This Nativity scene is a family collection from my childhood. My parents collected pieces from here and there and put them all together. We have kangaroos, camels, horses a Polar bear from Anjali, drummers from India and Africa and elephants from Sri Lanka. I could have added my Russian hen and a ceramic cat too.

This wood carving is from Malawi, a gift from our missionary friends.

Anjali and Prem brought this for us from Nigeria. Its sculpted from sandstone.

My blog friend Holly sent me this tiniest set from TX. Its so cute, fits into a matchbox.

We talk about the Incarnation at Christmastime. Incarnation means ' taking flesh' in Latin.

God 'took flesh ' and became the human Jesus.

We say it so glibly.

But the idea is so impossible.

God became flesh?

Its like trying to fit a battleship into a bathtub.

Making a skyscraper fit into a dollhouse.

A field of wheat crammed into a cereal box.

More than that , it is like making blue paint out of the blue sky.

We can 't fathom such things.

In the same way we cannot imagine the God of the universe becoming a baby.

Its so odd. After all the whole point was that God wanted to rescue us.

But a baby can 't rescue anyone.

Babies need rescuing themselves.

Maybe because God couldn 't make Himself greater to impress us , He made Himself smaller to attract us.

And the Christmas story is attractive.

In all history there is nothing like it.In all the cities of the world you will see great monuments built in the memory of outstanding men and women. Bit have you ever seen the statue of a famous person as an infant?

You would never see George Washington or Gandhi portrayed in a stroller.

That would be silly.

But it is not silly to honor the Lord of the universe as a baby because this child signifies the Incarnation.

That God took on flesh is amazing

like an oil well fitting into an oilcan,

or a mountain squeezing into a molehill.

God became flesh-

(adapted from Joni' s More precious than Silver)