Sunday 22nd December - #Pause in Advent 4

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milky_Way_and_Sagittarius.JPG

The last of the four journeys - and it's.... Jesus! His was the longest journey - maybe not in miles - after all he was carried by Mary all the way! But in time...?

Here goes;

I'm sure I wasn't the only child who found this statement in the Nicene Creed completely incomprehensible;

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Maryand was made man.

 Back then, the only words I knew with any kind of similarity to 'incarnate' were the flowers and yum yum yum, Carnation milk!

Later, when I was a student, I discovered chilli-con-carne, and chille-sin-carne, and the penny dropped; carne meant meat! (Why did it take me so long? I knew about carnivores and herbivornes, but never made the connection.)

Incarnate; embodied in human form. I suppose I could have looked it up...

Then, suddenly, this took on a whole new meaning

The Creation of the World

 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was 

over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was 

hovering over the face of the waters.

 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.          And God saw that the light was good. 

They are, God, Spirit and Word, right at the beginning. All together.

So, Jesus had the longest journey, not in miles, but in time, and in space, the universe and everything.

And, unlike everyone else's, his journey is never-ending.
   
There you go - that's my four-pennorth for Advent. I now have to go and sort out the crib scene - they have been carousing on a corner of the bookshelf together since last Christmas;

At least Mary is still holding on to the baby. How did Father Christmas get there?