A faith embodied

"The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory" -John 1:14

How is the Word made flesh in our lives? 

Teresa of Avila once said that"Christ has no body now on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which He is to bless His people."

The Word is God, the source of life that brings light to humanity, the light which the darkness has never overcome.

Where can you see the light which Jesus, the Word incarnate, brings in to the world this Christmas?

Sometimes it takes a bit of work to spot the mystery of God in our midst. He can be where we least expect him. The Lamb of God over whom the shepherds watched was an unlikely messiah. Three noble men travelled from afar based on the ancient methods of celestial navigation to honour a newborn king in a stable. Are we looking in the right places? Are we open to finding the Lord and Master on whom we model our lives wherever we are lead irrespective of our own preconceptions?

Can we learn to roll with what we find- no room at the inn, an infant of uncertain origin, an angel or an inkling inviting us to participate in a bizarre or frightening adventure? Can we keep moving toward the light of God in spite of our lack of understanding? Can we welcome God?

"Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?

         Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.

More often
those moments
      when roads of light and storm
      open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from

in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
                                 God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes."

-Denise Levertov