Phenomenal Cosmic Powers

How many of you here tonight like Disney movies? My family is a huge fan of most things Disney. Before we were a family, both Bekkah and I loved Disney films and the Disney parks, so when we started dating we, of course had that in common and to this day like to do things with the whole family centered around Disney.

Growing up I saw the different movies that came out on the big screen, but the one that has to be my favorite was Aladdin. The movie was fantastic and I loved every part of it. I even watched the cartoon TV show that came out because I loved the movie so much.

So you might be able to guess how excited I was when I heard that as Disney was releasing the live action versions of all the classic movies that Aladdin was one of the ones coming out. We don’t get to the theatres too much, but the stars happened to align and Bekkah, Aubreigh and I were able to go see the new live action Aladdin this year while Bekkah’s parents watched Madisyn. I was blown away at how well it was done and I truly appreciated all the things they added to the story to make it even more cohesive than the animated version, and I liked how they kept the key parts of the original movie intact.

One of the most intriguing parts of the movie for me is the fact that you have this genie that has these incredible powers. There are only a few limitations to his power, but otherwise it is basically limitless. The biggest catch to his powers tho is that he is bound to the lamp. This incredible being tied to a lamp and to whatever master happens to be the owner of that lamp. In fact one of my favorite lines from the movies is, “phenomenal cosmic powers, itty bitty living space.” In all this power that a genie has he is limited to this lamp. This vulnerable lamp that if lost or forgotten means that all this power has no meaning. What would happen if the lamp wasn’t just lost, but what if it was destroyed or melted down into something else? I wonder what would happen to this all-powerful genie if the lamp were no longer.

Do you wonder if these kinds of thoughts went through God’s mind? God created the universe out of a formless void. God is the one who brought the plagues to Egypt to free the Israelites and parted the red sea so they could escape. God is the one who brought fire down from heaven to consume the burnt offering to bring the Israelites back to faith instead of worshipping the god Baal.

God is the one who protected God’s people against foreigners and God was the one who stood by their side when other countries did conquer them. God is the one who sent Gods word through various leaders and countless prophets. You know the countless stories of the Bible where God steps in and protects God’s people in countless ways; many of which are incredible. Or in the words of Aladdin, ‘phenomenal cosmic powers’.

So, again, what kind of thoughts do you think went through God’s mind when God decided to take a different approach by sending God’s one and only son in the form of a human? Are his parents the right parents? Is this the right time to send him? What if there are complications during childbirth? Should I be worried about Rome being the newest superpower in the world? What about diseases? What about hunger? What if an accident happens? And if those were actual concerns why choose a baby and not a fully grown man? Why go through the whole process of being in a mother’s womb and being born and being a baby and a kid and everything messy and ugly that goes with it? In the words of Aladdin, ‘phenomenal cosmic powers, itty bitty living space.’

God who created everything. God who created you and me. God who is beyond any possible human understanding to fully grasp, in the form of the most vulnerable being in the world; an infant. An infant in a hostile, Roman ruled, world. An infant that fully and completely dependent upon others. God, made human, in need of the care and protection of people. Cared for by first time parents. A young mother and a carpenter. God who had cared for all creation, who had used God’s cosmic powers, now in the tiniest of spaces needing to be fed and changed. Needing to learn to walk and talk just like any other person on this planet.

God became vulnerable to understand human vulnerability. God became dependent to help us learn what it means to depend on others. God did what was weak and tiny, so that we might know that God knows what it means to be us; to be human. In that weakness, in that vulnerability, God shared with us in the most human way how much God loves and cares for us.

Maybe by seeing how God became dependent on us we might see that we need to depend on God for those things in our lives that we cannot control. Maybe when we look at Jesus and read his stories we might see the incredible chance God took on us and trusted in us so that we might take a chance on God and put our trust in God.

God came to this world to be like us so that we might be like God. Meaning that just as Jesus was fully human in the form of a baby boy, we may be flesh but we are also interconnected to God through God’s love and care for us. When we trust and believe in that love then we come that much closer to our relationship with God. Just like God learned what it meant to be a person by becoming like one. God chose what was weak and vulnerable, God, in a way set aside God’s phenomenal cosmic powers so that God might occupy an itty bitty living space. That itty bitty living space gave us a glimpse into God’s great love for us. As we celebrate Christ’s birth this Christmas Eve, ponder all the risks, vulnerabilities, and challenges God undertook so that you might know God just a little bit better. And that through knowing God you might develop a closer relationship with the God who created the heavens and earth and who also lived as one of us. As God relied on us as the babe of Bethlehem, may be rely on God as our Lord and savior and remember that there is no thing great or small that God will not do to share that love with us.

Merry Christmas and may you see the vulnerability of God as God’s greatest sign of love for you and for all people. Amen.