Almost everyone loves babies. And when the baby is the incarnate Lord, making himself completely vulnerable as a helpless infant, we are that much more moved at his coming, his advent, his nativity.<\/p>\n
If the author of the Gospel of John knew of these stories, however, he seems to have been relatively unimpressed. And so we look forward to hearing Matthew and Luke\u2019s nativity narrative, repeatedly, and perhaps glance over brief inclusions of passages from John.<\/p>\n
And yet it is the Gospel of John that gives us the broadest perspective, and to me the most meaningful context of the incarnation. Matthew looks especially to the import of the incarnation in the context of God\u2019s relationship to his people as revealed in Jewish history, indicated by the beginning of the Gospel, the genealogy of Jesus reaching back to Abraham. While Matthew includes signs of the Roman imperial context, it remains to Luke to place the incarnation squarely in that world, with his elegant and scholarly dedication and his direct signal to \u201cthe time of Caesar Augustus.\u201d Both contexts are necessary to explore, and I doubt that the author of the Fourth Gospel would counter either one.<\/p>\n
But his interests are broader. The prologue (1:1-18) of the Gospel of John continues a centuries-long discussion in Judaism regarding how it is possible to speak of a God who is both transcendent and immanent, Wholly Other Creator of the universe and yet intimately involved in every creature and to whom every creature gestures. The words used interchangeably for talking about God as present here, God-for-us, varied by the first century BCE; they included Wisdom, Son, Spirit, and yes, Word (logos<\/em>).<\/p>\n Drawing deeply in his prologue from biblical passages such as Genesis 1, Sirach 24:1-25, Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-30, and Proverbs 8:22-36, this author makes it clear that Jesus Christ is no less than the incarnation of what the Jewish tradition has called God\u2019s Wisdom, God when God is completely for us, especially as Creator of the universe. God\u2019s Wisdom has been revealed before in Torah, in the Temple, in creation, but never so permanently and perfectly as now, in a particular human being. John\u2019s is a Cosmic Advent.<\/p>\n With apologies to my spiritual father Francis of Assisi and his initiation of the living manger scene, John\u2019s is a magnificent image to which I am personally far more attached than to the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke. But John\u2019s vision does present a problem: how does one live a cosmic advent every day? How is it manageable or even helpful? How do we put flesh on that imposing vision that this author has given us?<\/p>\n Some practical activities can help draw our attention to the wonder of the Cosmic Advent. We could look at the stars, really take time to look at the stars<\/em>, and here I must recognize the contribution of my rescue pup Sasha, for whose needs I stand outside at 11pm every night! We could note the phase of the moon each night and marvel prayerfully in the wondrous structure and processes of the universe that result in what we can see at that moment, <\/em>and we can marvel prayerfully that the savior whose advent we now celebrate is so much more than that. <\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But we don\u2019t have to be unceasingly celestial in our gaze to remind ourselves of the glorious interconnectedness and redemption of the universe that Christ reveals (Col 1:15-20). We can at so many moments of the day and night bring our awareness to the \u201cthisness,\u201d as John Duns Scotus and other medieval scholastics would call it (haecceity<\/em>), of each created being God brings across our paths every day. We can \u201cgo small\u201d and practice hospitality to our companions on this planet as best we can. When we do that, we celebrate an unending Advent, as Mary Oliver expresses in her poem \u201cMaking the House Ready for the Lord,\u201d which I first encountered in America <\/em>magazine (Sept. 25, 2006).<\/p>\n Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but Pamela Hedrick<\/strong> teaches Sacred Scripture for Saint Joseph’s College Online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost everyone loves babies. And when the baby is the incarnate Lord, making himself completely vulnerable as a helpless infant, we are that much more moved at his coming, his advent, his nativity. If the author of the Gospel of … Continue reading
\nStill nothing is as shining as it should be
\nFor you. Under the sink, for example, is an
\nuproar of mice \u2013 it is the season of their
\nmany children. What shall I do? And under the eaves
\nand through the walls the squirrels
\nhave gnawed their ragged entrances\u2013 but it is the season
\nwhen they need shelter, so what shall I do? And
\nthe raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard
\nWhile the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
\nwhat shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
\nin the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
\nup the path, to the door. And still I believe you will
\ncome, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
\nthe sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know
\nthat really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
\nAs I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.<\/p>\n