100 years of magic.

Like it or not, no one person shaped the face of American pop culture in the 20th Century more than Walt Disney, and no one entertainment company has been as consistently influential as The Disney Company. During Walt's lifetime and after his death, the company never ceased to plow ahead, creating groundbreaking animated films, popular television shows, and theme parks that rank as some of the biggest tourist attractions in the world. Today, Disney magic infiltrates almost every aspect of American culture, from literature to sports to music to computers -- and the company continues to explore new opportunities.

Disney remains doggedly determined to dominate the business of making dreams come true.

What a surprise, then, to discover that many of Walt Disney's own dreams never took form -- they never became incarnate in the way he hoped they would.

For example, when Disney bought up forty-three square miles of Florida property in 1965, he dreamed of building a model city there -- a utopia called EPCOT, meaning "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow." After his death, this plan to build the world's first futuristic, working metropolis was scrapped, and EPCOT became a kind of permanent World's Fair instead.

Other dreams that never became completely incarnate include:

A Climate-Controlled, Glass-Domed City. Walt wanted to control the climate of the EPCOT city center by completely enclosing it, making it very easy for pedestrians to get around. Incarnation: Didn't happen.

Dream: An Advanced Garbage Disposal System. Incarnation: The hydro-vac at Walt Disney World.

Dream: An Airport of the Future. Incarnation: Never came to life.

Dream: An Athletic Stadium for sporting events. Incarnation: Disney's World of Sports.

Dream: A High School and University, in response to Walt's belief that "The great problem today is one of teaching." Incarnation: The schools of the residential Celebration Community, which opened in 1996, and the Disney Institute, a center for adult recreational learning at Walt Disney World. ("Walt's Dreams Vs. Reality," www.waltopia.com/vision.html. Retrieved December 10, 2001)

So you see, even in the Magic Kingdom, not everyone's dreams come true.

Contrast this story with the tale told by John in the first chapter of his Gospel. "The Word became flesh and lived among us," he proclaims, "and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth" (v. 14). John tells us that the world-creating Word of God actually became flesh, became human, and lived among us. This Word of God took form in Jesus Christ and walked among us, animated by God's redeeming love and full of faithfulness to God's promises.

When we talk at Christmas about "The Incarnation," we are talking about Jesus being the perfect incarnation of the dream of God the father. God's dreams were not scaled down and diminished in real life, as happens with most of our human dreams, but instead this divine vision became solid and active and real, and it accomplished the salvation of the world.

This is where dreams really do come true.

Of course, the process of turning vision into reality requires risk, whether you are Walt Disney or the Lord God. God took a chance when he came to earth in human form, departing the peace of heaven to enter the cruelty and chaos of human life. Our violent and selfish world is anything but Fantasyland, as we all know.

So why did God do it?

Our Lord became incarnate in Christ to show us the way to safety. Jesus came not to create a utopia on earth, not to build an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow," but instead to show us that God loves us, and that he wants us to enter into a deep and eternal relationship with him. He came to offer us new life, and to give all who believe in him the "power to become children of God" (v. 12).

At Christmas, we are not challenged to figure out The Incarnation, nor are we required to comprehend just exactly how this dream became a reality in a man who was both fully human and fully divine. Instead, we are invited to believe -- believe that God has come to us in Jesus Christ to show us the way to safety.

Walt's EPCOT dream never became incarnate. Although he conceived it as a single city, completely climate-controlled, on different levels, with deliveries below and a hotel above -- in fact, it is few of these things.

But God's dream has come completely true in Jesus Christ, the one he sent into the world so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. What has come into being in him is life, and this life is the light of all people. This light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (vv. 4-5).

Call it 2000 years of magic. Amen.