In the beginning was the Word, And the word was with God, and the word was God. The Word was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through the Word, And without the Word, not one thing came into being. In him is life, the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 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 or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
The Word became flesh and lived among us, And we have seen this glory, Glory as of God’s own Child, Full of grace and truth.
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Let us pray: Holy One… you who were born into space and time many years ago - and you who are constantly pouring yourself into being - help us to be gathered, to be still enough that we might sense, feel, and know your living presence - the presence of the Christ born once more within each of us, within this gathered body, and within the body of all creation. Breathe your presence into us once more - and through us, into the world. Amen.
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Last week was my twice annual visit to one of the places where I experience a rich potential, a profound invitation to spiritual practice… the dentist’s office.
Now, I realize that this sounds preposterous, but it’s actually true. It began about 12 years ago, when my spiritual practice was centered around insight meditation - seeing things as they actually are - and working with the breath. At that time, I was becoming aware of the power to direct sensation of the breath anywhere in the body. Sure, we usually experience the sensation of breathing through our mouths or our noses, and yet, with enough practice, we can breath through our foreheads… the middle of the back… through every pore of the body…even the feet.
So there I was, in the dentist’s office many years ago discovering that I could place the awareness of my breath in my feet while in the dentist’s chair. And that way, I could be more impartial, more objective to the sensations of the work being done in my mouth. It was a game-changer.
So flash forward to last Wednesday when I discovered something else I could work with in the chair – relaxing tension. You see, as I sat in the chair and the hygienists began to work, I became aware of the tension that I was holding in my hands. It was a curious awareness at first. The hygienists would move and my hands would tense up. She would reposition the instruments that were cleaning my teeth and my hands would tense up. So I started to play with allowing relaxation. So for the rest of the visit, whenever my hands would tense up, I would allow them to relax. Over and over and over again.
This was so striking because most of the time it seems like we are on the other end of the equation, doesn’t it… instead of relaxing, and allowing our species seems to be quite adept at grasping, clinging, holding onto…objects, ideas, power, influence, control, relationships… the list could go on. And, much of the time this clinging might come from a legitimate place of fear or concern, or worry or doubt. Understandable parts of our human experience, in other words.
And perhaps, faith calls us to something else.
I’m part of a psalm chanting group that meets online during the week to chant a psalm and sit together in silence. Last Friday, we were working with Psalm 54 when a line jumped out at me:
With boundless confidence, I abandon myself into your heart; I give praise to your holy Name, O Beloved, with gratitude & joy.
I abandon myself.
This seems so very similar to the current behind this reading from the Gospel of John, that we just heard. Here is the Holy One – the indivisible unity of all that exists expressing itself. The Word comes forth. The Word that was from the very beginning – the Word through which all comes into being. This Word is poured forth – it abandons itself, we might even say, to become human.
And, of course, this Word is none other than Christ. Not the Christ of dogma, or of rules, or of domination, but the Christ who is the manifestation of the heart of God.
“We live in a Christ-soaked world,” as Richard Rohr might say.
But there’s more – for it’s not enough for Christ to be born into the world once – Christ wants to be born in the world again and again – through us human beings.
This is the real crux at the core of our Christmas celebration. We’re not just here to remember what God did a couple of thousand years ago – but to recognize, honor, celebrate what God is doing right now. How God wants to be incarnate over and over and over again through us.
But here’s the catch – it’s up to us to allow the Christ to come through us. It’s up to us to soften, open, yield… each time that we are tempted to brace, harden, and resist. Each time that we want to cling and grasp, it’s up to us to surrender, to let go.
And this is not a popular message – it’s not a popular teaching when our first impulse might be to fight and resist.
Friends, can we allow? Can we allow ourselves to be open – to be vessels for the Holy? Can we surrender to the One that holds us and all of creation? This Christmas, may we go forth as instruments, as vessels of the Eternal Word that wants to become flesh – again and again. Amen.
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