A Blessed Christmas to all.
Theologian Dorothy Soelle talks in one of her poems about the “irresistible appeal” of Jesus. One does not have to be Christian to feel that appeal—Thich Nhat Hanh felt it as a child and wrote two significant books about Christ as an adult. He understood the message of Christ as well or better than most Christians. And he was a Buddhist monk.
A 42-year-old friend of mine from Thailand is a practicing Buddhist, and he, too, felt close to Jesus from childhood on. Indeed, he has made frequent pilgrimages on the Camino in France and Spain and has even chosen to live along that Camino in Portugal.
Artists often intuit the core message of Jesus and the Christ more fully than theologians. Potter, painter, poet and a beloved teacher at our ICCS and University of Creation Spirituality program, M.C. Richards, is one such artist who understood Christmas as truly as anyone I know.
In her painting reproduced as the banner picture above, she paints in simple form and memorable color, the Christmas story as she and the author of John’s Gospel see it. It is my privilege to wake up to this Christmas message every morning, as her painting hangs on a wall next to my bed. It is also the last thing I see before I go to sleep at night. (My dog sleeps on her bed right under the painting and adjacent to my bed so the four-legged ones, just as at the first Christmas, are represented there too as witness.)
Witness to what? To the glory, the doxa–-as the Jewish Scriptures say, “the whole earth is filled with God’s glory.” That is what MC is painting in this Christmas meditation—the birth of Glory, the presence of glory, the story of Christmas, therefore. Even when my bedroom is quite dark, the gold color of this painting exhibits a subtle glory.
Glory can be subtle, and glory can be loud. But it is always with us—if we have eyes and heart to see.
John’s Gospel, which is the last of the gospels and the author therefore had the longest time to meditate on the meaning of Jesus’ birth and the Christ story, talks frankly of the role of glory. And also the role of light.
The word was made flesh
he lived among us,
(pitched his tent among us),
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth. (Jn 1.14)
Angels appear to the shepherds to announce the good news. Shepherds are among the poorest and most despised members of society (who live with the sheep and smell like them). We are told that “the glory of the Lord shone round” the shepherds when the great throng of angels appeared and sang,
Glory to God in the highest heaven,
And peace to people who enjoy his favor. (Lk 2.9, 14)
Thus, “Glory” is the first word out of the mouth of the angels.
About light, John’s gospel says:
All that came to be has life in him
And that life was the light of humans,
A light that shines in the dark,
A light that darkness could not overpower (or grasp)….
The Word was the true light
That enlightens all people…
To all who did accept him
He gave power to become children of God. (Jn 1.4,5, 9,12)
The glory of the occasion is something we experience every day. Life and existence are filled with doxa and glory. There is a spark in all creatures, including the human soul, that too is a point of glory and the presence of the divine, the ancilla animae or spark of the soul.
The divine is very near and born among and within us. We are all participants daily in such an incarnation. It is continuous.
Banner Image: “Mother and Child.” Painting by M.C. Richards, from Matthew Fox’s collection. Published with permission.
Queries for Contemplation
What do you see in M.C. Richards’ painting of the nativity scene? Do you experience the birth of doxa and glory and the Christ on a daily basis? An ongoing incarnation and an ongoing Christmas?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings & Meditations, p. 273
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time, pp. 189-195
Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
6 thoughts on “Glory, Doxa, Christmas and Continuous Incarnation”
“To all who receive Him, He gave the right to be born as children of God” [John 1:12], i.e. to all who open their third [spiritual] eye, life is an ongoing Christmas. However, our third eye blinks a lot, like the other two, and life is therefore more a flickering Christmas than an ongoing one, a sequence of “yeas” and “nays,” of Christmases and Boxing Days.
The glory is all around us, with us, in us
and this IS the Good News! Jesus lives in us. Wow’
Blessed Merry Christmas of LOVE~LIGHT~LIFE~PEACE~JUSTICE~HEALING~TRANSFORMATION ~FREEDOM~JOY~COMPASSION… to All Our sisters, brothers, & living creatures/spirits around the world and in Our multidimensional/multiverse Cosmos…
I love and affirm the words of the last two paragraphs of today’s DM Matthew:
“The glory of the occasion is something we experience every day. There is a spark in all creatures, including the human soul, that too is a point of glory and the presence of the divine, the “ancilla animae” or spark of the soul.
The divine is very near and born among and within us. We are all participants daily in such an incarnation. It is continuous.”
Amen!
Happy Christ-ness. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.
Thank-you, Matthew for the continuing gift of your daily messages. And for Gianluigi’s, am praying for his recovery. I have read Thich Nhat Han’s book, “Living Buddha, Living Christ” twice now, and each time have learned more.