unprecedented

[uhn-pres-i-den-tid] 

The word I have heard most often this year, in the news is "unprecedented."  Indeed it means: without previous instance or never before known.  As Canadians we have experienced unprecedented events in our nation including natural disasters and terror.  We now face another Christmas and we approach the end of another year.  We will move from 2014 to 2015.

How does Christmas relate to New Years?   The most widely used calendar is the Gregorian calendar. It's numbering system indicates the number of years since the conception or birth of Jesus of Nazareth.  We would normally add the designation A.D. meaning literally "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ."   2014 indicates another unprecedented event: the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.  It is an epochal event such that every time we write the date we are reminded of its significance.

Never in the history of mankind has a woman conceived a baby through the power of the Holy Spirit such that this baby would be fully human and yet be fully divine.  This is the essence of the Christian faith: God took on human flesh (1 John 4:2).   It is incorporated in His Name: Emmanuel, God with us.  His birth was acclaimed by myriads of angels and affirmed by wise men from the East.  The most universal and basic Christian creed bears witness to this truth: "I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary."

The writing of the date on your cards or its imprint on your bank cheque is a quiet attestation to the

fact that nearly two thousand and fifteen years ago God entered time and space and was born of the Virgin Mary.  It is He who lived a perfect and sinless life – indeed, unprecedented; and it is He who took on His human body the punishment due to all mankind – again, unprecedented. And it is He who simply invites us to place our trust in Him, to which He guarantees eternal life. 

Unprecedented!