Here.

(I sat down to write, and discovered that I’ve said before what I want to say. I originally posted the below on Christmas Eve 2007.)

John 1:1-14 (NIV):

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

As The Message has it, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood.”

This portion of the prologue to John’s Gospel is a slip of Scripture that I return to again and again, largely on account of those words. There’s a word theologians use when they talk about it:

Incarnation.

Advent is closing, this is why we’re here.

I had thought about a lengthy post on this one, but I’ve decided to leave it at this: God became man, with all the mess and the fuss and the need that comes with the territory. If you think about it too much, the implications can leave you dumb. So keep it simple: Immanuel — God with us.

Tomorrow the celebration of that birth is upon us. Merry Christmas all.