Christmas is that time of year that requires of us the draw on our imaginations.  Imagination is something we normally assign to our children at Christmas time.  Santa Claus, flying reindeer, elves, a living snowman, and other magical creatures are just some of the characters of our children’s imaginations.  A great amount of mystery and wonderment overshadow their eager minds as they await the arrival of Christmas and imagine the activities of these stealthy characters.  But as much as they exert their imaginations, there always remain the unanswered questions…there always remains mystery.  How can Santa cover the whole world in one night?  How does such a fat man get down a 2’x2’ chimney?  How do reindeer fly?  The questions are innumerable, and the answers are many times either unsatisfactory or unforthcoming.  However, that does not dampen their enthusiasm for Christmas – at least at a young age.  Although their questions can’t be answered, they are able to embrace the mystery of things unseen - allowing their imaginations to create a world of wonder. Imagination creates an unseen world of gingerbread houses, wintery castles and giant sleighs led by soaring artic deer that thrills their childish hearts and builds excitement until the Day arrives.  Such is the wonder of a child’s imagination.

However, imagination is a God given gift that is not to be discontinued once we leave the innocence of childhood.  In fact, the true meaning of Christmas requires the full-fledged employment of our imaginations.  See in your mind’s eye and hear with the ear of your soul the words of John as stated in his Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1,14).

We understand that God’s Word reveals to us the objective truth of the incarnation – that God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ.  God taking on the form of man in Bethlehem’s manger is not imaginary fiction – a fanciful fairy tale for Disney movies.  Instead, it is the ultimate reality of all realities.  However, just because the incarnation is fact – objective eternal truth – doesn’t mean that it is totally explainable.  The incarnation is a divine mystery that will always necessitate the use of our imaginations to glory in its beauty.

Most of us are very practical people.  We don’t think of our faith in terms of deep, baffling, and indescribable mysteries.  We expect our Christianity to be simple and plain.  We expect our preachers and teachers to tell us what to do and not do.  We live in a pragmatic age, and we have reduced our faith to a set of no-nonsense principles.  But there are parts of our faith that cannot be fully apprehended with the mind.  Pragmatic Christianity cannot fathom the depths of these two indescribable facts: that the one, true God exists in three divine Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and that God the Son became a man. That is, that in one Person existed from the moment of His conception in the womb of His virgin mother, two separate and complete natures - eternal God and authentic manhood.  The Bible tells us that Jesus was God come in the flesh, but it doesn’t tell us how it can be so – how two natures can exist in a single person, perfect deity and perfect humanity.  It is a beautiful mystery!

The greatest theological mind of all time, the Apostle Paul, understood that even his amazing intellect could not bridge the incarnational gap.  He spoke to the Colossian believers of his charge to proclaim the mystery hidden for ages and generations and he spoke of that mystery as in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

Therefore, this Christmas let us not pass over the most earthshaking truth without serious reflection, meditation, and especially without imagination.  Marvel at the mystery of the Almighty in a virgins womb, of the Sovereign becoming the subject, of the Creator becoming the creation – of the fact that when Mary was holding that little baby, she was holding God…when she looked into that small round face, she was looking into the face of God!

As English poet John Betjeman puts it in his poem Christmas:

This most tremendous tale of all, Seen in a stained-glass window’s hue, A Baby in an ox’s stall? The Maker of the stars and sea Become a Child on earth for me?

Let’s be children this Christmas season and use our imaginations, informed by the Word and the Spirit, to contemplate the greatest and most sublime of all Mysteries – God becoming man and making His home among us!

Paula and I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

In His Service,

Dr. Wes Rankin
Association Mission Strategist