It is sad that we have only one day each year to celebrate joy together. The traditional wish of Christmas joy is spectacular if regularly unnoticed. Of all festivals, there are none that pay such high honour to our physical humanity, to the joy of being somebody.
We use the word incarnation when speaking of Jesus as the embodiment of God. The only difference between these words is in their linguistic origins. We have a tendency to regard Germanic words as less elegant than their Latino-French equivalents, although the Germanic word is usually understood a bit better. Putting confit on a menu can raise the price of a slow-cooked dish by several euro, the word spirit appears more mystical than ghost does and when a pig is brought to the table it does so as pork. Considering the word embodiment once might help to bring the Christmas message home.
Original goodness
Changing words can help us thing again about this feast. In Jesus’ birth God comes among us in a human body and is a reminder that every one of us started out perfectly and had to learn how to do wrong. As much as we have a natural propensity to do wrong, original sin, we also have a perfection that accompanies it, original goodness. God in a human body is a statement of that goodness.
The theory that states that the only two certainties of life are taxes and death overlooks the certainty of birth. Taxes and death both depend on birth for their certainty. All our lives started at birth with its joyful associations of hope, love and innocence. These are God-like attributes and ones that God, in the birth of Christ, was not slow to share in. When God became a somebody everybody was complimented. By choosing to be one of us, the embodied God pays a huge compliment to our oft battered self-esteem and any negative associations we have with our bodies.
Respected and loved
All year we focus on human imperfections. Our stories and chatter are driven by the mistakes, failures, wrongdoings and incompetencies of others. We are often too familiar with our own inadequacies to appreciate the blessedness and perfections of our lives. That familiarity can raise cynicism when we hear something that affirms us as good. If we overcome that cynicism we will experience the joy of being cherished, respected and loved. That is what Christmas joy is.
Family plays a big part in Christmas. It is family members who value us the way that God values us. The ability we have to forgive family members proves we are capable of identifying and respecting the original goodness of other people even though we often cannot appreciate it in ourselves. God did not choose a human body to honour everybody except me. The embodiment of God is a compliment to every human being regardless of how imperfect that person considers himself or herself.
Joy and peace
The body is good. The appetites of the body are good too. Enjoying companionship, food, drink and relations at Christmas is all part of the day. Honouring each other is also a very important part. The feasting and gifting are not inappropriate to the day as they honour the embodied goodness of the people we know and love. It should be reciprocal, honest and moderate. Wherever this is achieved great joy follows. There is nothing that brings greater joy than somebody acknowledging your goodness. This is even truer if your original goodness has lost its way somewhat since birth.
Compliments bring joy and joy brings peace. The compliment of the manger in Bethlehem wishes them both; joy and peace from God to you!