Even though I have been in this chapel before becoming Trinity’s priest, I hadn’t focused on the beautiful stenciling that surrounds the windows and creates a frieze around the apse. Nor had I remembered the opening verse to the prologue to the gospel according to John that lies above the trim. When Trinity called me, I all of a sudden paid attention to this verse, one that you and I can say by heart, and delighted that it would become a regular part of my prayer life and worship here.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The sheer poetry of the verse makes one stop and listen. After listening, then one has to unpack the depth of this one line and all the verses that follow it.
Just what is this Incarnation about which John speaks in his eloquent prologue, which we have now heard two services running?
Patricia Wilson-Kastner suggests that ‘Jesus became flesh so as to show forth the love of God among us, a love which is not merely an expression of good will, but the power of an energy which is the heart, core, and cohesive force of the universe.… Christ is the human expression of God to us, and thus we must try to understand what God meant in Christ… Christ is … one who shows all persons how to live. As a human he shows us what human self-possession and self-giving are. Thereby Christ shows us the link between divine and human, the cosmos and its conscious inhabitants.’
As though she had read the early 20th century Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, or Machado had spoken with her about who and what this Heart is, Machado’s poem, ‘Last Night’ puts into more concrete imagery who the Heart is that lies at the centre of our faith.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
O water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.
Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.
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How is God-with-us, Christ, the Incarnate One, manifest in you? How are you aware of the Heart of Love that lies at the centre of our world, at the centre of the universe? Are there moments when you have a fiery sensation inside you? Are there moments when something moves you to the point of tears? How is God the aqueduct that moves through your soul and nourishes it?
How, also, do you respond to the wonder of God incarnate? For our faith is profoundly communal and part of living a life of faith is to reach out to those around us.
John’s prologue makes clear that in God there is communion, unity, love and light, and from this communion, all creation flows. And this movement finds its fulfillment as the Word became flesh to lead human beings into a new communion with God, to become one with God.
Just as water flows to keep the earth alive, and our hearts beat to keep us alive, so does God’s love sustain all creation. And God’s heart is more vast—for ‘the heart of God is unbelievably kind.’
On this Christmas Day, may we dream that spring is breaking out in our hearts. May we dream that our failures have been made sweet. May we dream that the fiery sun that dwells in our heart bring us light and tears to our eyes. And may we dream and then come to know that it is God we have inside our hearts which, as they joy in love, it’s because God Incarnate is our Joy, our Love, our Heart.
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