Spiritual Solutions

I was thinking about Advent and I remembered when I was in the British Navy many, many years ago – I won’t tell you how many right now – one of the most precious times especially when we were on board ship and we’d been away at sea for quite a few weeks and we were in a port, we’d be waiting for the mail call. And whenever that mail call came, we’d rush to that certain place with a sense of anticipation and expectancy we’d be looking for mail from home. How exciting that was!

I thought about that in relation to this season we’re in, this season of Advent, because the season of Advent is a time of waiting, a time of expectancy, a time of anticipation of something wonderful coming into our lives.

Advent is a time of preparation, of fasting, preparation and prayer for the celebration that is to come of Christmas, the birth of the Christ and all of what that means to us. Advent itself means “coming” and that’s why I set my title as “Coming into the World.”

So we ask ourselves in this season, “What is it that is coming into the world right now?” We can make it even more personal and ask, “What is it that is coming into the world in and through me at this time?”

The Gospel of John gives us an answer to the question. In John 1:9 it says, “The true light that enlightens every man (and woman) was coming into the world.” That’s what is coming into the world, the true light. And the true light is the true idea of the image of God in you, the perfect expression of your own divine self. The true light is the divine incarnation itself coming into the world through you.

The scripture goes on to say about the true light, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

You see, that light of our divine selfhood responds to our acceptance and it reveals its full potential in our lives to the one who has the courage and the audacity to believe in it. That divine incarnation seeks to come into the world through each one of us.

Meister Eckhart, the 14th century mystic and theologian said this: “We are each meant to be mothers of God.”

And we read on: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” And that particular line, of course, relates to the one who came and expressed the fullness of that divine potential, that divine incarnation in our world, the one we have come to know as Jesus the Christ. His expression of the divine incarnation is symbolic of that within us also, to which we have the privilege of giving birth. Each one of us has that image of God within us, and we have the privilege of giving birth to it.

Author Sue Monk Kidd tells of a time when she had not really been true to herself in the work that she was doing, and in seeking her true self she decided to go to a retreat center among the live oaks in the low country of South Carolina, a place called Springbank. She said that as she walked through the front door there, pinned up on the wall, was a picture of a pregnant Madonna. Under the picture were printed these words: “This image represents each person who is trying to birth the real self, the image of God that is taking shape within. For that conception to move to its fullness, we all need time to be quiet, to be reflective, and to be centered in our deep places.”

So I encourage you at this season to take time. So often we get caught up in the hurry and bustle of the season, of preparations, and we forget to take time for ourselves and reflect upon the meaning behind it all. And the meaning behind the story of Christmas is your story, the story of the divine image that is within you and your privilege of giving birth to that image. So we all need to take time to reflect upon it and realize that for ourselves.

The First Essential

The Christmas story is symbolic. Jesus, the baby, the child that expressed the fullness of his divine potential is symbolic of that possibility within us of our expressing our full potential. And out of the story we learn that the first essential of our Christian heritage, of our Christian faith, is really knowing that each one of us bears the image of God within. If we are really true to the Christmas story, if we really understand the depth of it for ourselves and apply it to ourselves we know that each one of us bears the image and likeness of God. That means you, and me, and every one of us.

If we know that about ourselves, then we must know it about each other. And if we know it about each other then we cannot enslave, or segregate, or denigrate, or make anyone a second class citizen, whether they be male or female, white or black, gay or straight. Every one of us bears that image of God and the likeness of God within us and ours is that privilege of giving birth to the fullness of it.

The Second Essential

There’s a second thing, too, that is an essential. When we look at that story of Jesus and his life, we see that his life is symbolic of what our life can be, not in its exact proportions because we are to be our own real self. But his life expressing the fullness of God is symbolic of our lives. And as we look at his life, we find the overriding factor is the truth that no one is left out of God’s love through his actions. Remember, Jesus said “if you see me – if you really see me – then you have seen the Father.” So if we really see Jesus then we’ve seen the expression of God, what that God presence is like in each one of us.

Every one of us is the object of God’s love; and we see that in his life and the activities taking place around him. We see that we can do nothing to separate ourselves from that love. Betray God, and God loves you; deny God, and God loves you still. We try to even kill the love of God, and God responds by forgiving and loving us.

You see, this is the story of Jesus, but it’s also the story of God’s expression in and through our lives. So the second essential is that we are the object of God’s love and we can never be separate from that love. We need time to reflect upon that because as we take the time then we are given the power to move into action to be the expression of that love, of that divine incarnation, and to be conscious of it, and to become conscious of who and what we are.

A friend was sharing with me not long ago that he was driving in a little automobile during a thunderstorm, and he went whooshing into a puddle that was not just a puddle. It was more than a foot deep; he got in the middle of it and his car quit on him. And he couldn’t get it started again. So there he was trying to start his car in the middle of this big puddle when a pickup truck came by and stopped. The driver leaned out and said, “I’ll tell you how to start your car. Don’t keep trying to start it now. If you will wait, there’s enough heat in the engine to dry out the plugs and the wires, but you’re going to have to wait for about fifteen or twenty minutes and if you’ll wait then turn the key and it will start.” Then he drove off.

So this friend, who was not often given to waiting, he waited. And he waited just over fifteen minutes; then he turned the key and it started the first time.

When we wait we are given the power to move into action. And that’s true about knowing the truth of our own being. When we wait and know the truth of our own being, then we can move into action centered in that truth.

The Third Essential 

The third essential of our faith, the third essential of our Christian story or the Christmas story, is that we can become all that we are meant to become. The concept of the Holy Spirit gives us that truth. Holy means “whole,’ it means “complete.” It is God’s Spirit; it is God’s whole Spirit active in and through you. So when we accept ourselves as we are and see our wholeness then we are becoming what we are meant to be. Thus, as we glimpse this divine incarnation within us, and we wait, and we act upon that and from that consciousness then we move into the world in a different way.

We recognize our wholeness, we recognize our freedom. So the black person can say, “My God, black is beautiful.” And that’s whole and healthy to say that. And a woman can say, “I will not be defined by a man, especially one who looks at me in a subservient and subhuman way.” That’s healthy, that’s whole, and that’s liberty, that’s freedom. And a gay person who says, “I will be true to myself; I will live according to my integrity of who and what I am.” That’s freedom, and that’s healthy, that’s wholeness. And a man who says, “I will become all that I can become.” That’s a whole new creation, isn’t it?

This is giving birth to the divine in you, the image of God in you, bringing forth that wholeness.

Jesus knew that. Remember, he had come to the River Jordan and he’d been baptized by John then he had gone off into the wilderness and he was tempted. He was tempted to live in his ego, to be powerful in a human way, and he recognized the truth of his being that he really needed to express the truth of God in him. And if the divine incarnation was to come into expression in the world it was to come through him, as it is to come through each one of us. And here’s what we read in the scriptures about the first time he spoke his truth to a group of people:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“’The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

“And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” (Luke 4:16-21)

Jesus knew that was his work, to express the truth of his being in whatever way he could in bringing the message that would set people free, and would open people’s eyes.

Meister Eckhart said it in a little different way. He said, “What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace and I am not also full of grace? What good is to me for the Creator to give birth to his or her son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and in my culture? This then is the fullness of time when the Son of God is begotten in us.”

We are called to become all that we can be, to bring forth the divine incarnation. And we do it in simple ways, but we do it first through the awareness of the image of God within us, And secondly, we do it through loving one another, seeing the Christ in one another. And thirdly, we do it by recognizing that we are called to bring forth that divine incarnation in our lives.

Sometimes we may look at that and see it as an overwhelming task. But we can look at it in a different way and realize that the Spirit of God comes forth in simple ways, just as it was in a simple stable that the baby Jesus was born and not in some grand palace. In simple ways the truth of God’s presence comes forth in our lives and we can share that truth.

To help you in doing that this Christmas season here are various actions you can take as you answer the call and bring forth that realization of God’s Spirit in you.

The blessing of Christmas cards:
Don’t just write the cards and send them off without thought; bless those cards. It’s the feeling that we have when we do it that’s important. So bless your Christmas cards; and here’s a blessing you can use: “These cards are messengers of my love and I send them forth in the spirit of love.”

Preparing your gift list:
Giving gifts is a great joy; our gifts are chosen to carry a special expression of love to someone else. Think about the gift you are giving, not only the outer gift but a special spiritual gift. What is the gift you would choose to give them in a spiritual way? Expressing your love is the important thing.

Overcoming hurry:
It’s important that you remain centered. “In quietness and peace I relax and let God work through me. God brings order to my thinking and harmony is created within me and around me. I have plenty of time and energy to do the things I really want to do.

Going into crowds:
“I am centered and poised in the peace of Jesus Christ. I remain at peace wherever I go and I see this peace in everyone.” You can be a real blessing wherever you go; you are bringing forth God’s image and you are seeing that divine incarnation, the Christ, in everyone. You’ll see that it makes a really big difference in your own experience and you’ll see how it touches other people’s lives during this season.

Someone has written:
 
You are Christmas every time you smile and help to make the world a brighter place.

You are Christmas every time you laugh and let the sound join with all the happy music of the world.

You are Christmas every time you speak a word of faith to some fearful soul along an unpaved road.

You are Christmas every time you pray a prayer for those who need your very special blessing.

You are Christmas every time your loving hand goes out of the way to give that extra special service.

You are Christmas!

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