Love in the Flesh

Christmas Eve, 2023

The Feast of the Incarnation
Incarnation, in carne, in flesh.
The Divine becomes flesh.

God climbs down the staircase of the cosmos,
and breaks into human history,
taking the form of a baby born in a barn in Bethlehem.

Born into a place that is now Palestine, born into occupied territory under siege.
Born into the gorgeous and complex diaspora of ancient Judaism.
Born into a sacred but unsuspecting family,
struggling alongside their neighbors
to survive the tyranny and brutality of the Roman Empire.

What a choice, God made then.
And what a choice God continues to make,
being constantly reborn in the unlikeliest places,
the most uncomfortable circumstances, the most hostile environments.

But God chooses to be born again and again,
even if we only formally celebrate that truth once a calendar year.
God is always and forever being born into humanity, into creation.

And because we believe that God is love,
God becoming incarnate means love becoming incarnate.

And when love becomes incarnate,
It ceases to be a feeling
and becomes an action.

Love ceases to be an idea,
And becomes a being.

Love in the flesh is Jesus Christ.
Love in the flesh is a fragile baby.
Love in the flesh is a tender and passionate man, a truth-teller, a prophet.

Love in the flesh is hands that heal and set free, ears that listen,
eyes that bear witness, hearts that burn with empathy and compassion.

Love in the flesh is altruism and sacrifice,
the willingness to be emptied and extinguished - if only to revive, to light up again
to show us that Love is bigger than death.
Stronger than destruction. More powerful than empire.

Love in the flesh looks like the most quotidien behaviors and actions
It looks like being in right relationship with ourselves and one another.

Love in the flesh is not poetry, love in the flesh is a grocery list.

Love in the flesh is a pattern of living that reflects God, even in the tiniest of ways.

Love in the flesh is the daily comings and goings of our relationships;
with ourselves, with one another, and with the collective -
those who we will never meet but with whom our destinies, our salvation is linked.

And so as dreamy and ethereal as this night can be,
The irony is that we are celebrating the nittiest, grittiest part of our faith.

Christmas Eve is when the rubber hits the road.
Christmas Eve is when Love departs from the realm of philosophy,
and becomes grounded in reality.
Christmas Even is when Love climbs out of our imaginations,
and is manifest in our hands.
Our feet, bodies, our selves.

It’s a lot to accept, that the power of God, the power of love,
dwells within us and flows through us.
It’s a lot of responsibility.
And yet, it is the way of freedom, harmony, and peace.
And that is what we mean when we say salvation -
for you, and me, and for all creation.

Love is our destiny.

So go forth tonight and incarnate God into your own lives.
Be a practitioner of Love, in all the ways that Jesus shows us - literally, and tangibly.
Practice tenderness and care. Repair what is broken.
Find what is lost. Bring in those on the outside.
Flip over the tables of arrogance and malice.
Balance the scales of justice.
Listen. Pray. Seek wisdom. Take a stand.
Feed those around you, and allow yourself to be fed.
Love, and allow yourself to be loved.

Tonight, love ceases to be a feeling
and becomes an action.
Love ceases to be an idea,
And becomes a being.

Alleluia!