Advent reminds us that Jesus not only came to be with us, but that Jesus came embodied as one of us.
Bodies are an invitation to limitations. For the first time, since eternity past, Christ experienced weakness, hunger, pain, fatigue, and all the physical limitations that come with being human. He – like us – could only be in one place at a time, could only be in one moment, in one conversation. Ultimately, this experience of limitation eventuates also with the reality of our own mortality.
Bodies also sadly can hold the power of shame. In Genesis, one of the first markers of brokenness entering into the world is a sense of self-consciousness around nakedness. Many of the greatest gifts of life come through our bodies – but also some of our greatest pains and sources of suffering.
Yet, our Savior came to us, as one of us. During this season of Advent, we discover Christ not only as the King enthroned with power, but we find Jesus our embodied Savior. Through the incarnation, the Divine is bound by fleshly limitations found in the human experience. We see this in Jesus, but we also find stories of embodied experiences all around the Christmas narrative. Mary’s body expanding, Elizabeth’s unforeseen bodily experience of joy, Simeon’s wonder at beholding Christ, and all of the embodied journeys to see the Light of the World.
As we prepare to enter into the season of Advent, this series will guide us through our own embodied experiences. During these weeks, we hope to discover how the embodied God offers us reversal of shame, life through our limitations, and communion with God through our physical experiences. Our spiritual life is an embodied spirituality, and our bodies are now something we have in common with the Divine.
As companions to this series, we will have daily prompts that will seek to honor an embodied spirituality with Jesus. This week, we’ll invite you – through daily text prompts – to consider your own embodiment and reclaim the glory and honor that Jesus has brought to your body. Text advent2023 to 97000 to receive the texts.
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 1:14