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8 DECEMBER PLEASED WITH MAN TO DWELL Christ by highest heav'n adored, Christ the everlasting Lord! Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a Virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity, Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel. Hebrews 12:1-3 Christianity is wonderfully strange. Strange because Christianity makes some astounding claims about the nature of God, humanity, and our world, and wonderful because these claims infuse our otherwise seemingly ordinar y existence with incredible meaning and purpose. Of all the wonderful and strange things Christianity asser ts, perhaps the most wonderful and strange of all is the miracle of the incarnation—the doctrine that sits right at Christianity's center and, in some ways, holds all of Christian theology together. The truth that the holy, infinite, transcendent God put on human flesh, was born of a virgin girl, entered time, space, and histor y to be with and to save His people—this is the miracle that we celebrate at Christmas. Fittingly, it is the subject at hand as we come to the second stanza of Charles Wesley's hymn, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. What Wesley writes here is profound, not only in its essence, but also in its implications. The miracle of the incarnation means that God is not indifferent towards you, me, or our world. The incarnation means God cares—that He is invested. It means He is a giver, and the greatest gift that He gives is Himself. In shor t, the incarnation means that things between God and humanity just got incredibly personal. This is the fur thest thing from dry or stale religion. What we see here instead is intimacy, joy, and affection. The God of infinite highness came down, not because of begrudging duty, but because of pure pleasure. Don't miss that! Notice that Wesley states that it pleases God to share Himself with His people. God actually delights in sharing Himself with you and me. The author of Hebrews comments that it was "for the joy that was set before Him" (Hebrews 12:2) that God gave Himself to us. This is who God is! He is a giver who relishes the thought of relationship—of giving Himself away. After all, He is our Immanuel. Do you know today that you are His beloved? What good news we have in Jesus! Oh, it is true, Christianity is wonderfully strange! Luke Blaine, Student, Doctor of Ministry Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Lyrics by Joseph Mohr (1818), composed by Franz Xaver Gruber (1818)