Christmas- A celebration of the Incarnation

The last few christmas mornings I have enjoyed reading C.S. Lewis on the incarnation..this morning it really got to me and again was a great reminder of the joy and abundant life that enters into all life because of the one life of Jesus....here are some excerpts from him, its taken from "suprised by Joy" pg.50-55:

"The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God"

"In the Incarnation, God the Son takes the body and human soul of Jesus, and, through that, the whole environment of Nature, all the creaturely predicament, into His own being. So that 'he came down from heaven' can almost be transposed into 'heaven drew earth up into it', and locality, limitation, sleep, sweat, footsore weariness, frustration, pain, doubt, and death are, from before all worlds, known by God from within. The pure light walks the earth; the darkness, received into the heart of the Deity, is there swallowed up. Where except in uncreated light, can the darkness be drowned?"

"The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. Just as every natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and moment of Nature's total character, so every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the character and significance of the Incarnation. There is no question in Christianity of arbitrary interferences just scattered about. It relates not a series of disconnected raids on Nature but the various steps of a strategically coherent invasion- an invasion which intends complete conquest and 'occupation'."

Using the language Lewis uses in Mere Christianity- what I get out of his articulation of the incarnation is that the "bio" life (created natural life) is meant to be overrun/filled/occupied/covered like a blanket with the "zoe" life (uncreated creating life- God's life) and the incarnation event was the pivotal moment in all history where God dwelling as man did something to this world to enable us to share in and experience the eternal life of God! The incarnation event was the gateway to the coming of the new age and a seal/promise of a new heavens and new earth still to come!

I hope in the midst of the holiday thrills-turkey, gifts, movies, friends,family...you get to celebrate the incarnation and reflect on what it conveys about life, reality, you and the people you get to celebrate the holiday with!