C is for Culture, which Christians also Cross with the Gospel to get Christmas.

As we approach the celebration of Christmas, the mystery and promise of the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Word made flesh--we Christians do so with many family, church and cultural traditions. We have Christmas trees and dazzling lights; Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas; caroling and partying; Christmas pageants (with children enacting anew the meaning of Nativity texts) and "A Christmas Carol" (with Dickens seeking to infuse more than mere sentimentality into the meaning of the season).

(Designed by Martin Marty)

Our observance of Christmas as a seasonal celebration certainly has been thoroughly shaped throughout the centuries by our Western Culture--and not originally because the secular has seized onto Christmas. (See the next article in the Newsletter, Easter in December, for an historical-theological note on how the December 25th Roman Imperial celebration of Sol Invictus, the "Unconquerable Sun," was baptized or crossed by Christians into the celebration of the incarnation). Therefore, incarnating the secular with the spiritual, crossing Christ into the culture, is, in many respects, as it should be. But a note of warning is needed. Crossing is not crusading. It is not about imposing a religious agenda on the secular, but redeeming, rescuing the secular from religious (world saving) presumptions. Ironically, crossing is precisely the opposite of what the so-called religious right (and probably the left) want to do today. Rather than rescue the secular from an alien religious role, they want to encumber it with religious agenda -- not unlike what Caesar did when he first instituted the celebration of Sol Invictus.

This crossing kind of incarnation theology is already apparent in one very early Christmas carol of sorts, made known by St. Paul in Philipians 2. In that carol, the whole point of Christ's coming was about the kenosis of the Son of God, Greek for how the Son "emptied" himself of all divine prerogatives so that he could thoroughly identify with this world to unencumber its fallenness and its false presumptions of glory. Nevertheless, Christ emptying of himself certainly did, at a minimum, give dignity to us as God's human creatures. The incarnation does mean that he became a creature like us, something good, including a baby in Bethlehem, as we like to celebrate at Christmas. Listen to St. Paul's carol, verse one, so to speak:

Though he was in the form of God,
[he] did not regard equality with God as
something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking on the form of a slave,
being born in our likeness.             (Philippians 2:6-7)

Step one of the incarnation, then, was his becoming a creature like us. And yet, that is not entirely what the incarnation or emptying means, as we shall see. For Jesus Christ identified with the world so that the world might in turn, ultimately, prefer to identify with him. In other words, Jesus Christ identifies with the world not in order to gain anything for himself. That would be exploitative! Rather, he identifies with the world so that it might gain something from him. But now I get ahead of myself and the carol. Listen, first, to step two of the incarnation, to how the carol (in verse two, so to speak) deepens the meaning of Christ's identification with us, so that we might come to see why we need to identify with him:

And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to
the point of death --
even death on a cross.             (Philippians 2:8)

This step two of the incarnation -- isn't that the rub? It would be one thing if Jesus identified with us simply as the good creation of God. Then, of course, Christmas and the incarnation could be turned into a celebration of creation, of the miracle of birth, of the joy we experience when a new baby is born. But that's not what he does. He's determined to identify with the entire truth about us. Question is, are we? And the truth is this: Not only are we the good creation of God, but tragically, we are also the fallen, sinful, rebellious creation of God. Jesus' execution as a criminal on the cross shows that. Therefore, the cross is as much a part of his incarnation, his self-emptying, his identification with us, as is his human birth. The only difference between him and the world at this point is that he "obediently" embraces the truth of humanity's sinfulness -- not as a far-off judge, but as one right in the midst of it, as though it is his own. He does that even though in truth that sinfulness is not of his own doing. The world, quite to the contrary, faces that truth, which is its own doing, "rebelliously," making it, ironically, all the more true.

And yet, Jesus' identification with us as sinners is not the entire truth either -- and that leads us to step three of the incarnation. The gospel is infinitely more than a message of misery loves company: though it entreats us to invite his company into our misery -- an invitation Jesus elsewhere calls repentance. But the gospel is ultimately more than that. The gospel is all about how Jesus, the Son of God, who first identifies with us lowly sinners, now establishes a way for us to identify with him in his exalted status as "Lord." That, I am calling step three of the incarnation. The ancient Eastern Church (St. Athanasius especially) described it this way: "God became human so that humans might become divine." Stated more carefully, Christ shared fully in our human plight so that we might share fully in his divine glory. Luther called this great gift exchange the "happy exchange" and that gift exchange is signaled, signed, indicated, in every other kind of gift exchange Christians undertake, whether at Christmas time or anytime. Just listen to the third verse (so to speak) of Paul's Christmas carol.

Therefore, God also highly exalted him
and gave him a name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.             (Philippians 2:9-11)

What first begins with Jesus' identification with us in our creation, and then in our misery, now ends with us identifying with Jesus in his exaltation as "Lord." And the way we identify with Jesus in this exalted status is through what the carol calls "confession" and what Paul calls elsewhere faith. Here is the true meaning of Christmas. Christ becomes incarnate in the world, not only in surface things, in cultural things, but all the way into the inner reaches of the human heart. There we are exalted in joy, moved to empty ourselves, in union with our Lord, for the sake of the world: a world that still exhibits its need for repentance and faith --a new kind of life exalted in Christ.

steve kuhl