By stating that Jesus is \u201cborn of woman\u201d\u2014this Mary (as both St. Matthew and St. Luke attest)\u2014St. Paul insists that Jesus is most emphatically human, the \u201cfirstborn of all creation. That this Mary is at the same time a virgin prevents the birth of Jesus from being reduced to what we know or can reproduce from our own experience.<\/p>\n
Life that is unmistakably human life is before us here, a real baby from an actual mother\u2019s womb; there is also miracle here, and mystery that cannot be brushed aside in our attempts to bring the operations of God, let alone our own lives, under our control.<\/p>\n
The miracle of the virgin birth, maintained from the earliest times in the church and confessed in its creeds, is, in Karl Barth\u2019s straightforward phrase, a \u201csummons to reverence and worship\u2026.\u201d Barth maintained that the one-sided views of those who questioned or denied that Jesus was \u201cborn of the virgin Mary\u201d are \u201cin the last resort to be understood only as coming from dread of reverence and only as invitation to comfortable encounter with an all too near or all too far-off God.\u201d<\/p>\n
–Eugene Peterson in God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas<\/b> ed. Greg Pennoyer and Gregory Wolfe (Massachusettes, Paraclete Press, 2007), p., 5<\/p>\n Merry Christmas to you all. And to celebrate some Christmas themed photos. First a window from Hambledon, Hampshire\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/JogNvXFUS3<\/a><\/p>\n — English Churches (@EngChurchPics) December 25, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n