As Christmas nears, I often think of words by Meister Eckhart, a radical 14th-century Dominican priest, who said,

We are all meant to be mothers of God. 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, but I am not also full of grace?  What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and culture?  This, then, is the fullness of time: when the Son of God is begotten in us.

There words strike me as true, but they are always a challenge.  I believe that Jesus was born in human flesh not in order to be adored and worshipped, but in order to reveal how divinity wants to incarnate in and as human beings.  We are all called to give birth to the fullness of the Light of God–Christ–in us.  We are meant to grow into our birthright as sons and daughters of God, revealing the image and likeness of the Creator in us.  Jesus came to show us how to do that.

As his life revealed, it’s not an easy path.  For him and for all who feel called to follow the Way he lighted for us, it involves relinquishing our own plans for our lives and surrendering to God’s plan, God’s purposes.

Detail from Heinrich Hofman’s Christ and the Rich Young Ruler

The first Quakers, in the 17th century, knew themselves to be called to give birth to Christ within.  Collectively they did so in a manner that is still reverberating with Divine Truth and Love in our time.  Now, in our day, in contemporary culture, all are called to do so in ways that will affect the possibilities for humanity’s future on Earth.

Tonight, on the Eve of another Christmas (by the liturgical calendar), I am praying that we are all able to fully receive that divine Light that wants to incarnate in us, the Light of Christ that wants to manifest the healing, saving power of God among us.

Giving Birth to Christ in Our Time:  How is the divine Light seeking to be born in you?  What are you being asked to relinquish, and what are you being asked to welcome and become, in order that God’s loving purposes can be fulfilled in you?

@ 2018 by Marcelle Martin