George Day

Of course, as you are probably intimating, Paul has already specifically linked law, Christ's death, redemption and adoption in the Spirit in Galatians 3:10-14. In 4:4f he affirms that redemption and adoption is the purpose of the incarnation.

Phil Almond

Interesting that in the verses from Galatians (4:4f) quoted by Phil Almond to boost his case for stressing redemption by Jesus' cross and resurrection, there is actually no mention at all of death or resurrection, but only of Jesus coming into the world, i.e. the only thing specifically mentioned is incarnation!

Of course, in Jesus coming to redeem us Paul includes, (indeed usually centres on), his death and resurrection, but not in this verse - here it is just incarnation. Which perhaps suggests this is an excellent bit for Christmas preaching, combining the coming of Jesus and our resulting redemption. And then leading on in the next verses to the Spirit bearing witness to that redemption and our sonship.

Hmm. Must remember that passage for next year!

From Mark, the best reply yet--

So for me, some of the reasons God became human were to tell us "I can work at your pace" and "I want you to live because I love you" and "I want you to be able to recognise me when I come".

Christmas invites us to broaden our perspective ... not to narrow it.

The human emotions of wonder and awe, aroused by these narratives, can open cognition to deeper awareness, enabling the mind to take in such reasons as these, and to ponder them, not in the chattering "monkey mind," but in the heart. In fact, it is unclear whether anything other than story can have this effect. Preaching that shows the Incarnation must surely allow the scriptural narrative to facilitate that opening, and preaching that bounces lightly off the story to hasten on to doctrinal "meat" may pour more into the bottle than it is prepared to receive. Blessed is the congregation whose preacher is not merely clever but wise in the processes of the heart!

DavidR, truly worthy answers to your question-- how can someone preach the Incarnation on the Nativity?-- would exfoliate into a vast and infinitely varied garden. With my apologies, I simply supply a few field observations off the top of a busy head, enumerated for reference.

(1a) Some preachers make note in passing of the emphases of the evangelist as they are reflected in the reading.

(1b) Some see the truth of the feast as something grasped more by affect than argument, and preach "horticulturally" to graft the confused sentiments of the congregation back onto the root of Jesse.

(1c) Some have built on the propers of Advent to stress the adventus of divine kingship. Of these, (1d) one sort follows St Bernard into these of devout reception of the King, and (2a) another enlarges on the sort of Kingdom that is ruled from manger and cross.

(2b) Sometimes preachers introduce, not the gospel, but the world that we see in its light. "Because the gospel is true, we know..."

(2c) Some, seeing that the story depends so much on prophecies, angels, and signs that all converge on the Incarnation of the Word, preach that God's love for us is behind all of His self-disclosures to us.

(2d) Some, thinking of the star and the Magi, preach the glory of the Lord and the adoration of the soul.

(3a) Some preachers have been heard to say that the divine condescension of the Nativity demonstrates the divine love that motivates the redemption of the world.

(3b) Some preachers who want to talk about sacrifice at Christmas have maintained that the whole Incarnation is a sacrifice, the Cross being the event that made this clear.

(3c) Some preachers begin with (2d) but then close on a Johannine note with the glory of the Cross.

Doubtless all of these exemplars can be and have been followed, both in clumsy ways and in luminous ones. There are other sorts of preaching. No sort of preaching is edifying to every sort of congregation.
 

In the Bible - in the Gospels - we see salvation played out at a human pace from birth to death. Disciples took three years to make. The urgency of salvation meant it was done properly and not hurried as if it didn't matter, or as if it were magic.

I often talk about the way Luke tells the story, where the shepherds, of whom we hear nothing more, went home rejoicing at what they had seen. By contrast Mary pondered these things in her heart - both are responses to revelation. I invite people to ponder in their hearts ... confident that God will be there in that pondering: do we not see that in Mary in the gospels?

Good Friday is a poor place to end the story - Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, second coming are all to come. I tend to focus in Advent on whether we will be ready to meet Jesus when he comes. Matthew 25 and the creation in Genesis suggest we ought to have had plenty of opportunity to meet Christ as the image of God in others. The prologue to John's Gospel talks of the life which is the light of all people, not the death which is the salvation of the world - the gospel, properly conceived looks beyond death to life, and to a love which is stronger than death and a life which extends beyond death.

So for me, some of the reasons God became human were to tell us "I can work at your pace" and "I want you to live because I love you" and "I want you to be able to recognise me when I come".

Christmas invites us to broaden our perspective ... not to narrow it.

DavidR

Speculation about a possible incarnation of the second Person of the Trinity if man had not fallen is just that….speculation. Clements’ ‘…but the Incarnation remains above all the fulfilment of God's original plan…’ (understanding ‘original plan’ as ‘without a Fall’  - but whether ‘original’ is the right word would take us again into the mystery of predestination) lacks any Biblical foundation; and "he is before all things and in him all things hold together" was true before the incarnation.

I agree that Christ is our Teacher, Example, King etc. as well as, as I see it, above all our Redeemer, and until he is our Redeemer by his cross and resurrection he cannot be these other things to us.

So I commend the, as you put it, ‘…well intended (and faithful) evangelical zeal for the gospel….’ at your Christmas Eve service, following Paul in Galatians, ‘But when came the fulness of the time, God sent forth his Son, becoming of a woman, becoming under law, in order that he might redeem the ones under law in order that we might receive the adoption of sons’, because, as I will never tire of saying, redemption is the prior and paramount need of sinners.

Phil Almond

The Christmas Eve Christingle talk at our church began with an illustrated 'God's unexpected present' theme (the Incarnation) before moving to an extended focus on the cross. It finished with a 'committment prayer' on the screen that was all the language of coming to the cross and confessing our sin. A sermon on Christmas eve about Good Friday. This is not untypical of Christmas talks to congregations full of once-a-year unchurched. Indeed it is a familiar dilemma for any preacher and I share it. But would anyone like to discuss this further? Here are some of my starters.

*How do we honour the doctrine of the Incarnation in our preaching at Christmas? There is a well intended (and faithful) evangelical zeal for the gospel that easily leaves the doctrine of the incarnation as little more than a  'way in' to talking about the cross. Indeed there seems to be a nervousness about spending too long there.

*If sin had not entered the world would the Incarnation not have happened? Would we not have met Christ? It is a strange thought. Is the incarnation only a means to the cross or is it something more,  that a sinful world now requires the utter self-giving of Christ to enable?

*The Christmas blessing in Common Worship begins 'Christ who by his incarnation gathers into one all things earthly and heavenly...'. Does that point us to a richer and neglected theology of Christ's gift and presence in the world? Or is it deficient for not mentioning the cross at all?

The Orthodox theologian Olivier Clement writes: 'The incarnation needs to be put back into the whole scheme of creation. Human waywardness has certainly made it into a tragic redemption, but the Incarnation remains above all the fulfilment of God's original plan, the great synthesis, in Christ, of the human, the divine and the cosmic ... [for] "he is before all things and in him all things hold together"' Col 1.17 (The roots of Christian mysticism 1995  38-9)

So how did others preach the story and doctrine of the Incarnation this year without giving the impression that really only Good Friday matters?