perpetual incarnation

“You are a little soul carrying about a corpse, as Epictetus used to say.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Never tell a child,” said George Macdonald, ‘you have a soul. Teach him, you are a soul; you have a body.’ As we learn to think of things always in this order, that the body is but the temporary clothing of the soul….”

When he told of how he took his wheelchair-bound teenage son Tony, dying of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, to the river to go fishing, the entire room would hang on every word (no matter how many times we had heard the story). Completely bereft as he watched Tony painfully work to get his line in the water, Pepe began to cry. “Dad,” Tony said, “Why are you crying? There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s just my Earth suit that is having trouble. Nothing is wrong with me.”

                                                              Ron H quoted by Richard Rohr

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each day

whether I like it or not

(and sometimes as a true introvert I like it not)

The Sacred drops people into my path

I have long since abandoned the idea

that these are chance encounters

although I sometimes think that Sacred has

a warped sense of humor

but there they are

needy people

angry people

people who embrace a leader I abhor

hurting people

lonely people

addicted people

strong people

insightful people

there they are

God carriers

Precious souls

Sacred children in their “earth suit’

If only we would see

Every Advent we celebrate God adventing

Jesus

God with us

Light in the darkness

The Sacred in an earth suit

Showing us what God is like

Showing us a new way of doing life

We sing of angels and shepherds

And of magi, keeping it weird

As they travel from the east

We talk about Mary and Joseph

and the baby

Ah the baby

The Sacred temporarily clothed

In human flesh

And then we go through our days

And fail to recognize

the perpetual incarnation

We fail to see that Jesus is still here

still God with us

still incarnate

we fail to see that Jesus is present

in the manger of every heart

we fail to remember that each person is a precious soul

each person is, in some mysterious way Jesus (Matthew 25)

each person is part of this ongoing incarnation

that Jesus made possible

it is of course not a simple matter

it never was

when Jesus came

even though Scripture foretold

and stars pointed the way

and angels choirs sang

a pitiful few gathered at the cradle

we do not always understand

we do not always see

we are not always awake to the good news

we do not see the Christ in others

we do not see the Christ in ourselves

but that does not change the reality

Advent happened

Advent happens still

Incarnation is

God is born in the manger of our hearts

God is incarnate within this common flesh

Carrying out that ministry of Love

Transforming us from the inside out

Making us new

God is in us, the hope of glory

And God is in each person we meet

And that changes everything