I came across a quote by Joan Chittister a few days ago that I really like and want to share with you: “To understand Christmas is to come face-to-face with the incarnation. The very notion that God imbued creation with divinity makes everything we see sacred, every step we take a pilgrimage to the divine.” I find these words to be quite profound and helpful.
Chittister’s first sentence conveys a truth most Christians readily accept. John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The word “incarnation” means “in flesh” and points to the miracle of Christmas—that the Almighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth, at one point in history took on human form (flesh) in Jesus and actually dwelt among us. It is this event we celebrate every December 25. And well we should!
It is the second sentence in Chittister’s quote that conveys a truth that many believers may not be so aware of and this is that by joining us here on earth God made “everything we see sacred.” We now abide on holy ground. The Bible makes clear from the very beginning that God created the world and declares its goodness. The Bible also tells us that “the earth is the Lord’s” (Psalm 24:1); it belongs to God. I suppose there is a sense in which these two truths also point to the earth’s sacredness but this is made most clear in the incarnation, the birth of Christ. At Bethlehem “God imbued creation with divinity.” I’m not sure many, if any, of us can fully comprehended the meaning of this but it should be enough for us to realize that the world we live in is holy and that all we see in God’s creation is sacred. God’s holiness is literally all around us. This should lead us to worship God every day and cause us to live in a perpetual state of wonder and awe. I would also like to think that realizing the earth is sacred would cause us to do a better job of protecting and preserving it.
I like Chittister’s suggestion that every step we take here on earth is “a pilgrimage to the divine.” This probably shouldn’t be taken literally but there is a sense in which what Chittister says is true. We are not only created by God, we are made for God. It is God’s intention that we draw nearer and nearer to Him. God longs to envelope us in His love and to enjoy fellowship with us. Hopefully every step we take will, in fact, draw us closer to the fullness of God’s love and His divine presence. That is my goal for the days to come and throughout the New Year. I hope it will be your goal too.
Over the years I have benefited from the writings of Richard Rohr. That happened again this week when I read a series of posts on his “Daily Meditation” site. There I was introduced to the concept of the two Incarnations. When Christians hear the word “Incarnation” they typically think of Jesus coming into the world the first Christmas. Rohr refers to this as the second Incarnation. What, then, is the first? That would be the Creation itself. He says “I want to suggest that the first Incarnation was the moment described in Genesis 1, when God joined unity with the physical universe and became the light inside of everything.” “Two thousand years ago marks the Incarnation of God in Jesus, but before that there was the Incarnation through light, water, land, sun, moon, stars, plants, trees, fruit, birds, serpents, cattle, fish, and ‘every kind of wild beast’ according to the Genesis creation story. This is the ‘Cosmic Christ’ through which God has ‘let us know the mystery of God’s purpose, the hidden plan made from the beginning in Christ’ (Ephesians 1:9-10).”
Although I have long understood Creation to be one of the supreme sources of divine revelation, I had not previously thought of Creation as the “first Incarnation.” It makes sense to me and if we adopt Rohr’s teaching it helps us look at God differently. It also causes us to look at the earth differently. We see it is truly holy. We see in it the immanence of God. Such a viewpoint opens the door for us to have a more intimate experience with God and the “Cosmic Christ.” It helps explain why many of us feel closer to God in nature than anywhere else. I realize not everyone will buy into this concept of a “first Incarnation.” Not everyone bought into the idea of the second Incarnation. But for those with eyes to see and faith to believe God’s presence in Jesus could be seen and felt. Likewise, for those with eyes to see and faith to believe, God’s presence can be seen and felt in the Creation.
In addition of bringing people into a closer communion with God, I would like to think that looking at Creation as the first Incarnation would move us to revere or honor the earth. Needless to say, we have not done a very good job of this in the past. The Cosmic Christ would seem to have fared no better than the earthly Christ. Understanding the Creation as a visible manifestation of God would hopefully lead us to seek to preserve and protect the earth. Not doing so might be compared to a second crucifixion. I do not believe it is going too far to say that failure to love and care for the earth is a failure to love and care for God.
There is much to be said for Richard Rohr’s concept of the first Incarnation. I hope you will give it further thought and that it will lead you closer to the one who is the Light of the world.
The Rebirthing of God is the title of John Philip Newell’s new book. Its subtitle is Christianity’s Struggle for New Beginnings. This week I will be at the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico taking a workshop with Newell that focuses on this book. I am certainly looking forward to that. In the meantime, I’ve been reading the book itself.
In this brand new book Newell speaks of the death of Christianity as we know it and of the need for “the rebirthing of God.” He believes that this rebirthing is a good thing “pointing to a radical reemergence of the Divine from deep with us.” In each of the book’s eight chapters Newell discusses something the church needs to reconnect with. Having read a number of his other books I was not surprised to discover that the first thing he believes we need to reconnect to is the earth. Newell concurs with eco-theologian Thomas Berry that “we need to move from a spirituality of alienation from the natural world to a spirituality of intimacy with the natural world.”
Reflecting on both the Book of Genesis and the writings of Julian of Norwich Newell notes that we are not only made by God but are also “of God.” He says “We are made of the Light that was in the beginning. We are made of the Wisdom that fashioned the universe in its glory and interrelatedness. We are made of the Love that longs for oneness.” He sees one of our great needs “the desire to move back into relationship with everything else that is of God.” This means “choosing to move in harmony with the universe again, knowing the rising of the sun and the whiteness of the moon as part of us, seeing the beauty and wildness of the creatures as expressions of what is also within us, the unnameable and untameable presence of the Divine in all things. It means growing in awareness of earth’s sacredness, knowing that its moist greenness issues forth directly from the ever-fresh fecundity of God.”
If you are a regular reader of Seeing Creation you know that I write often about the sacredness of the earth. I, too, feel that Christianity has suffered greatly by setting up a false dichotomy between the spiritual and material world. This false dichotomy has kept many from being open to experiencing God in the natural world. This is most strange considering the Biblical insistence that God is certainly to be found in the Creation.
I appreciate the fact that Newell utilizes the teachings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. He refers to de Chardin as “the first modern Christian prophet of the sacredness of the universe.” De Chardin once wrote “at the heart of matter is the heart of God” and “the deeper we move into the mystery of any created thing, the closer we come to the Divine Presence.” These are things I believe too. De Chardin believed that the Incarnation of Christ “points to the oneness of heaven and earth, the Divine and the human, spirit and matter” and also “reveals the essential sacredness of every person and everything that has been created.”
In case you’re wondering, in the remaining chapters of his book Newell goes on to talk about how reconnecting with compassion, the Light, the journey, spiritual practice, nonviolence, the unconscious and love will also be important facets of the rebirthing of God. I’ve not read the whole book yet but already I have found much encouragement about the future of Christianity in it. If we would just take seriously this first part, reconnecting to the earth, it would make a world of difference. I plan to keep pointing others in this direction and ask you to do the same.
–Chuck
(I took the images shown above near my home in Henderson, KY.)
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14
Even though I was a history major in college I do not consider myself much of a historian. Still, I do remember that at the time of Christ many Greeks believed that matter was evil. Only things related to the spirit were considered good. This philosophy affected many early Christians. There was the belief among some early followers that the body and all things material were corrupt. One can only imagine how those holding such a view looked at the natural world.
Today we can say with confidence that the material world is not evil. We know from Genesis 1 that the world was created by God and that He declared it “good.” But even if we didn’t have this passage, the birth of Christ also makes the same positive affirmation. How so? Simply by His willingness to take on human flesh in the Incarnation God affirms the goodness of the material world and Creation.
Although you rarely hear people declaring the material world evil these days there are still many who make a clear distinction between things sacred and secular. After the coming of Christ I am not sure that even this is a valid distinction. The coming of Jesus as Emmanuel—God with us—reveals the truth that the divine presence permeates all of the world. As Emmanuel, God remains present in and around us. This means that if we truly have eyes to see then we will discern His presence in Creation and in those around us. Jesus himself said “the kingdom of God is in your midst.” If we look closely we will see it all around us.
While I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a couple of weeks ago I had a chance to spend some time at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. In additions to her delightful paintings, the museum displays a number of sayings from the famous artist. O’Keeffe once said, “seeing takes time.” When it comes to seeing the divine in this present world it does, in fact, take time. But if we will be persistent in our looking and open to God’s wonderful surprises, we will discover that the God who made Himself known through the Child born in Bethlehem is still very much in our midst.
–Chuck
(I took the two pictures above on my recent trip to New Mexico.)
I have to admit when I heard what the special music was going to be for last Sunday’s service I wondered if it was actually a religious song. The title of the song was “Winter Snow.” It sure didn’t sound like a “religious” song but once I heard it sung by one of our youth I realized that my concerns were for aught. In fact, it turned out that the song was both beautiful and inspirational, with a message most appropriate for an Advent service and for the readers of this blog.
Here are the words to “Winter Snow” as penned by Audrey Assad. “Could’ve come like a mighty storm with all the strength of a hurricane. You could’ve come like a forest fire with the power of Heaven in Your flame. But You came like a winter snow—quiet and soft and slow—falling from the sky in the night to the earth below. Could’ve swept in like a tidal wave or an ocean to ravish our hearts. You could have come through like a roaring flood to wipe away the things we’ve scarred. No, Your voice wasn’t in a bush burning. No, Your voice wasn’t in a rushing wind. It was still, it was small, it was hidden.”
I hope you’ll give some thought to these words in the days to come. As the celebration of Christmas draws near we can find in nature a reminder of the miracle of the Incarnation. The song writer is correct, Jesus could have come in any number of ways to the earth, but God’s plan was for him to come in a still, small, hidden way—to come “quiet and soft and slow” like a winter snow.
There is so much about Jesus’ coming I find incomprehensible. Even with all the prophecies of the Old Testament I don’t think anyone could have imagined the Son of God coming as he did. I am certain not even the prophets themselves could have imagined God becoming one of us “like a winter snow.”
If you’re lucky enough to have a good snow in the coming days (I know, some would consider that unlucky), I hope that you’ll pause to think about this song and the parallels there are between a winter snow and the birth of our Savior. And whether you experience that snow or not, I hope and pray that in some still, small and hidden way you will experience Emmanuel, God with us, in your own particular way.
–Chuck
(I took the top image at Arches National Park. The bottom image was taken at Bryce Canyon National Park.)
Today is the third Sunday in Advent and the theme for this particular Sunday each year is joy. If one will pause to reflect on the meaning of this special season he or she cannot help but experience joy. It truly is amazing that the One who created the world became part of it as a vulnerable little baby. John 1:14 says “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” A few verses earlier the Gospel writer says “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (v. 3)
I think a lot of people fail to understand that at Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Creator of the world. Speaking of Jesus the apostle Paul said, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created…” (Colossians 1:15-16)
I realize that during this season we usually focus on how God sent His Son into the world to provide for our salvation but we should also note the amazing fact that in that Bethlehem stable the Creator became a part of the world He created. One of the implications of this for me is that because of the Incarnation we stand on “hallowed ground.” The world is not just “good” as the author of Genesis reminds us; it is holy too.
One of the most popular Christmas carols is “Joy to the World.” The song indicates that because Jesus came there is cause to rejoice. In fact, the song exhorts “heaven and nature” to sing for joy at Christ’s coming. During my trip this past week to southern Utah there were many times I felt like singing God’s praises for the gift of His Son. There were even times when I looked at the incredible beauty of Christ’s Creation that it seemed like nature was ready to sing too. And that is only fitting. When we remember that Jesus is both the world’s Creator and Savior, why shouldn’t “heaven and nature sing”?
–Chuck
(The pictures above were taken this past week at Bryce Canyon National Park.)
