While trying to decide what to say before we shared communion on Christmas Eve I had this idea pop into my head: Doesn't it seem like Easter is the "big" Evangelical holiday, and Christmas is more the "big" Missional/Emerging holiday? Not that both aren't important in each camp, but Easter centers around the fact that Jesus came to DIE for us, and Christmas is more that Jesus came into the world to LIVE for us.I realize I am seriously stereotyping, but part of the problem some evangelicals have is they can lean too far towards Easter and only thinking about the implications of what Jesus' death and resurrection meant (atonement for sin; going to heaven when we die). I think it is just as important that God chose to COME INTO the world in the first place... to live among us; as one of us; being 'incarnate.'
I like the idea that God chooses to do things "with" us, and not just "for" us.
I dunno... I haven't really thought this through... but it was a thought.
2 comments:
Good point.
Maybe the holistic point of it all is that God shared life with us and then chose to share in that life with us, and continues to do so.
I dunno. I need to think it through, too.
And gee, you have a few months to polish this into an Easter sermon! :o)
Technically, Jesus’ coming into our world was a part of His saving work. He takes on our flesh to be our substitute. The meanness of His birth is an indication of what His ministry will entail. No sooner is He born but wicked king Herod wants to kill Him. The slaughter of the innocent children after the visit of the Magi shows us how fierce the battle will be. Satan will stop at nothing until the Lord’s Christ is dead.
You are correct insofar as He has come to be with us. Joan Osbourne’s song “what if God were one of us” is answered in the Savior’s incarnation.
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