II Samuel 7.1-5,8-12,14,16; Psalm 88; Luke 1.67-79
The central declaration of the Creed is that the Everlasting God homo factus est: became man. He set aside alike the joys of heaven and the powers of divinity [Philippians 2.7] to take on human flesh—and not as a garment or disguise that he could dispense with at will; rather, like all human beings he was born to die. [John 10.17-18]
Over the past days we have prayed for him to come, to be born in us. [Galatians 4.19] We have acknowledged him as the Wisdom that undergirds all creation, as the Lord pre-eminent over all earthly rulers, as the King who draws the divergences of earth into a unity by his gracious and beneficent government, as the God who—to our amazement and abashment—has deigned to live with us, east of Eden [Genesis 4.16], and by that absolute sharing of our life and our death to give us life worthy of the name. [John 10.10]
On this day of expectation before our celebration of the feast of his Incarnation, we look to the east to see him as he comes, bringing light to our darkness and bringing to us the Glory of God Himself in human flesh. [John 1.14]