God has chosen to dwell with his people.

He has chosen to be Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” As a sign a virgin has conceived and born a Son who is the Almighty, the Counsellor, the Prince of Peace.

And in this one event, in time 2,000 years ago, in Bethlehem, the first great era of human history was brought to a close, and the course was set for the future of all creation. God had chosen to dwell with his people because earlier, much earlier, his people had chosen not to dwell with God. In the imagery of the book of Genesis we are told that in the beginning we were one with God. But then, as now, the choice was free, and mankind chose to change all that. Unity with God and among people was destroyed. But with this fall came the promise, the promise that humankind would one day again be made whole. So there began the years of formation. God began again to create for himself a people. Through many years and many stages, through all the covenants of the Old Testament with Abraham, with Joseph, with Moses, with David, with Solomon, the promise and the call were the same. “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”

Finally, humankind had been brought again to the point of which it was able to respond with a total “Yes” in the person of Mary. And with that “Yes” we were once again ready to be given the gift of fidelity, ready to be made capable of living as God’s people at one with him.

But if this event, the taking of human flesh, was the close of one era, it was the beginning of another. The era in which we live out our

Christianity, the era of God present with his people, present in human form, human acts, human abilities.

The incarnation, once begun, has never ceased, and never will. God’s choice to take on human nature, human flesh and blood and mind and feeling is as real and immediate now as it was in Bethlehem. The humanity Christ claims today is ours, the flesh and blood, the hearts and minds he claims as his, are our own.

So, in a very real sense, God’s people must not only celebrate the incarnation, God’s people must be the Incarnation. We must each of us, be Christ Incarnate. Christ is the flesh for every other human being. Those whom we will meet today, tomorrow, at home, at work, on the street, depend on us to make Christ real, to give him human form and human life.