Return to Weekly Sermons

First Sunday after Christmas - December 30, 2007 - Rev. Gary Strubel

There’s an old exercise in reasoning that goes: if a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one to hear it, is there a sound? The answer is yes and no. Yes, the sound waves are present, but the ear to pick them up and the brain to interpret them are not. Thus, sound as we understand it is not present. It’s as if something to hear and interpret the waves is necessary to fulfill its potential. Sound isn’t complete unless it’s heard.

If we were to apply this reasoning to God, we could ask: if there’s an independent and Supreme Being, but nothing else existing in the universe, would there be God? The answer is also yes and no. The mysterious being would exist, but the understanding of God, which is dependent upon God’s relationship with his creation, would not. Thus, God, as we understand him would not be present. It’s as if something to recognize God is necessary to fulfill his potential.

This reasoning cuts to the core of the mystery of the incarnation by suggesting the question, why become incarnate in the first place? I suggest that the incarnation, which is the physical embodiment of God, is born out of God’s desire to communicate himself to someone in his own image, and this communication is necessary for God to be complete. Furthermore, this process of self-disclosure is ever developing until God becomes known to all people at all times. Our readings this morning speak on this developing process.

In our Gospel reading, the mystery of the incarnation begins with creation itself, the first manifestation of the embodiment of God. God created all things, is present in all things and can therefore reveal himself in all things. Thus, all creation, on some level, has the power to reveal God.

God created humanity to communicate himself through his creation. Yet, we rebelled in sin and this inherent communication was lost. Thus, God chose a select people to restore this communication at a chosen time. As mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, God revealed himself in a covenant of laws to instruct the people in living the kind of lives they were created to live. And, even in their disobedience, as John reveals, God continued to communicate through the prophets.

In time, this incarnation developed and expanded further in the birth of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, the word became flesh and dwelt among his chosen people as one of us. Jesus didn’t come to abolish or supersede the law, but to fulfill it – to demonstrate in action what it means to embody and live the law. In Christ, humanity is no longer defined in terms of our rebellion, but terms of the perfect obedience of Jesus.

Finally, this incarnation developed and expanded further in the resurrection of Jesus and his continuation of his ministry through his disciples – his church. In Baptism, God comes to dwell within his creation and continue to communicate through his baptized disciples. God continues to expand his communication beyond his chosen people to the entire world with the message of everlasting life. And in the second-coming, God will communicate to all people from all time.

Thus, God is made complete in communicating himself to his creation through his creation. But it’s not by any act of ours that this happens. This is solely an act of God for God’s purpose. We were created for and through God. But unlike any other part of creation, we can rebel and reject this natural connection. Thus, God provides mechanisms to restore us to harmony with himself.

Now, I recognize that this theology has the potential to portray God as a self-centered jerk. But the truth is, God doesn’t impose this communication on us, but invites to share in this revelation. God communicates and reveals himself to us in love – not as some desperate act of self-preservation.

Indeed, this desire to communicate ourselves is a desire that all of us share with God. In our search for the meaning of our lives, we desire to be recognized by others – for others to acknowledge we exist and that our existence has meaning. We need someone to acknowledge that we matter.

This is the impetus for the many great things we can accomplish. Works of art, music, writing and even science of examples of how we create to express and communicate ourselves to the world. The acts of performing, singing, acting, speaking, and working are also creative ways of interpretation. Even the creation of children is an act of communicating that we exist and our progeny will go forth from us and beyond our existence. These acts of creation are not inherently selfish when they’re done in love. They do, however, have the potential to be selfish when they are done in despair.

Perhaps this is the reason why so many youths topple tombstones, vandalize property, and even kill. These destructive acts express and communicate our frustration and betray our belief that our lives are meaningless, so we lash out in destructive behaviors.

Thus, in the incarnation, we learn the value of our lives and why we were created in the first place. We are made in the image of God in order for God to make himself known and to become complete. Also, in the incarnation, we also find an example of how to channel our desire for self-expression in the act of creation in love rather than acts of destruction in despair.