“As Christian thinking was grounded in the events recorded in the Bible, the res gestae, the things that had taken place, so it was nourished in worship by the res liturgicae, the things enacted in the liturgy.” Thus spoke Robert Louis Wilken on the early church’s transformation of persons and the presence of grace. Along these lines, as we consider the Advent of the Lord Jesus, consider the words of Leo the Great, in a sermon on the feast of the Nativity in the mid 5th century of our Lord’s reign.
‘Today’s festival renews for us the holy childhood of Jesus born of the Virgin Mary, and in adoring the birth of our Savior, we find that we are celebrating the commencement of our own life. For the birth of Christ is the source of life for the Christian people, and the birthday of the head is the birthday of the body.”
Going from this early church theme, consider the words of Ireneus, in the second century, on the new creation reality and the virgin births. That’s right “births” in the plural.
“Just as through the disobedience of one man, the first made from the virgin earth, many were made sinners and lost life, so it was necessary that through the obedience of one man, the first born of a Virgin, many should be made righteous and receive salvation.” – on Romans 5
It seems that as we set aside this times of year for the celebration of the Virgin birth of Emmanuel, the God-man Jesus, that we are drawn to the meditation of being transformed by this holy child in a unique way that is not caught / taught in our meditations on Jesus’s life in other parts of our liturgical year rhythms. Epiphany and the counted time heading to Lent, the Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity all provide different aspects of contemplation and spiritual transformation that are unique to themselves. In Advent, certainly our focus is on the longing of His coming not only the first time but Maranatha, his coming again as well. For now though, we are once again brought back to the beginning stage, longing for his coming, considering His and our birth in Him, and the reality that a new humanity and a new world has come upon us. We consider that love, giving, and even truth are all physical realities that are not to be left in the warm fuzzy places of our hearts but to be put under trees, wrapped up in swaddling ribbons, and clanked together with ruby red cheers. Joy and juxtapositioned light amidst darkness. Advent is rich with meaning and offers us much to be changed by.
