25 Dec, 2011
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!
Today, we celebrate love of God made known. We celebrate the physical reality of that love as inseparate from our physical being on this world. We recognize that divine love acting in the creation and evolution of all life. God is not distant or apart from us. Immanuel—the Biblical Hebrew meaning “God (El) with (im) us (anu).” The word’s simplicity and truth surpass our comprehension. Our songs try another angle, such as, “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing” from “O Come All Ye Faithful.” But we do not readily accept the bodily appearance of the process through which we are created. We reject the most vulnerable expression of divine affection as symbolized in a poor infant born among beasts of burden. The metaphorical value is as charged as the incarnate reality. Although God’s love could not be less threatening, we refuse to accept it. Still, that light shines. This is cause for celebration!—constant, year-round, tireless participation in the process that creates life. This is the gift we can accept if we are so inclined.
Whatever darkness surrounds us—be it the impalpable pulse of distraction or the blanket of mystical shadow, we do not face the darkness before us alone. Likewise, we are not isolated in our responses to climate change. The love that creates all things compels us to sympathy and action. Today, perhaps the action we need most is rest or restraint. Here’s to our giving and receiving of rest!
Until we met again
More joyfully restraining
Than we thought possible.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!