Thursday, 16 May 2002

From "Amazing Grace by Kathleen Norris. In this book she takes many of the words and images of the faith and attempts to put some reality and life to them.



INCARNATION

For me, the incarnation is that place, if you will, where hope contends with fear. Not an antique doctrine at all, but reality - as ordinary as my everyday struggles with fears great and small, as exalted as the hope that allows me some measure of peace when I soldier on the daily round.Norris then writes of the Annunciation - Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary to inform her of the babe she will carry. When Mary asks, "How can this be?" The angel then speaks of what we have come to call the incarnation. It also resonates with my own life. When a place or time seems touched by God , it is an overshadowing, a sudden eclipsing of my priorities and plans. But even in terrible circumstances and calamites, in matters of life and death, if I sense that I am in the shadow of God , I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically. I know that holiness is near. And it is not robed in majesty. It does not assert itself with the raw power of empire...but it waits in puzzlement, it hesitates. Coming from Galilee, as it were, from a place of little hope, it reveals the ordinary circumstances of my life to be full of mystery, and gospel, which means "good news."



"Where hope contends with fear." What a powerful way to describe life...faithful life within the struggle of everyday. We can find ourselves confronted by fears and anxieties that attempt to take all of our energy and demand all of our attention. When that is the case, we can move through the day as though we are not fully alive. But then life becomes full when we are able to look beyond that which is trying to subdue us. To hope is to be able to stand up when the forces of the day say sit down...to love when the cloud of hatred hangs over us...to forgive when the world operates on pay backs. Incarnation is the everyday opportunity to bring the fullness of life out into the open and not hide anymore. There in that openness is where the holy shines among us.



Connection: Lift up your eyes and catch the rest of life that is offered to you even when today is a day that seems to hold only more grief and pain. When we can begin to see beyond our fears, ordinary life greets us in a whole new way.



Lord of this Day, bless us with the vision to see how you bring newness and joy and confidence into those days we feel as though we are wading through the mire of life's travails. Praise be to you for the breath of new life you promise to bring to us through your Holy Spirit. Amen