This is a powerful reflection, especially in its insistence that grace precedes readiness and that God gives himself even to the resistant, distracted heart. I was particularly struck by the movement from fragmentation toward contemplation, and by the beautiful claim that creation is not merely something God once made, but something God is giving now.
I hesitate only at the final sentence. To say that “the ground never consented to be broken open” may grant too much finality to our resistance and too little to the Incarnation. Perhaps the deeper tragedy is that we fail to see that the ground has already been broken open: in creation, in its restoration through Christ, and in the Word becoming flesh. Grace does not merely wait outside hardened ground for permission to enter. It reveals, restores, and calls us to see what is already there.
This is a powerful reflection, especially in its insistence that grace precedes readiness and that God gives himself even to the resistant, distracted heart. I was particularly struck by the movement from fragmentation toward contemplation, and by the beautiful claim that creation is not merely something God once made, but something God is giving now.
I hesitate only at the final sentence. To say that “the ground never consented to be broken open” may grant too much finality to our resistance and too little to the Incarnation. Perhaps the deeper tragedy is that we fail to see that the ground has already been broken open: in creation, in its restoration through Christ, and in the Word becoming flesh. Grace does not merely wait outside hardened ground for permission to enter. It reveals, restores, and calls us to see what is already there.
Another beautiful post, thank you, and much food for thought. When you say the divine descends, do you mean in terms of lowering its frequency to become compatible with our lower vibration? Otherwise it would imply a hierarchy while the divine is also immanent in us.
Thank you Sue, very insightful comment! I’d hesitate to understand the Divine descent literally as God lowering a frequency or vibration, since that can subtly make God one energy among other energies, only existing at a higher level. God isn’t simply the highest being within the universe, but the inexhaustible source of being itself… infinitely transcendent, but more inward to us than we are to ourselves.
By “descent” I mean something closer to Divine self-emptying… God makes himself receivable without ceasing to be infinite. The Word becomes flesh… grace enters the particular… the Eternal consents to be encountered within time, matter, suffering, human limitation, etc. It’s not that God has to diminish his divinity to become compatible with us, but that Divine love veils its radiance so that we might freely receive it.
In a way the “descent” is a bit paradoxical, isn’t it? God comes to us from beyond us, yet he arrives in the deepest ground of our own being. He doesn’t travel across a physical distance… and what descends is the self-giving form of Divine love.
Any way, I hope that clarifies my meaning, and thanks for the thoughtful reading of this piece!
There is so much important truth in this… I will save it for re-reading and contemplation. What kept coming up for me is the idolatry of our lives… how we make idols of our Self, others, work, entertainment, church, success, emotion, etc. and how we allow this idolatry to block God’s love and presence from our hearts. Truly, letting go of all desires but the one for communion with the Divine is a daily necessity.
This is a powerful reflection, especially in its insistence that grace precedes readiness and that God gives himself even to the resistant, distracted heart. I was particularly struck by the movement from fragmentation toward contemplation, and by the beautiful claim that creation is not merely something God once made, but something God is giving now.
I hesitate only at the final sentence. To say that “the ground never consented to be broken open” may grant too much finality to our resistance and too little to the Incarnation. Perhaps the deeper tragedy is that we fail to see that the ground has already been broken open: in creation, in its restoration through Christ, and in the Word becoming flesh. Grace does not merely wait outside hardened ground for permission to enter. It reveals, restores, and calls us to see what is already there.
This is a powerful reflection, especially in its insistence that grace precedes readiness and that God gives himself even to the resistant, distracted heart. I was particularly struck by the movement from fragmentation toward contemplation, and by the beautiful claim that creation is not merely something God once made, but something God is giving now.
I hesitate only at the final sentence. To say that “the ground never consented to be broken open” may grant too much finality to our resistance and too little to the Incarnation. Perhaps the deeper tragedy is that we fail to see that the ground has already been broken open: in creation, in its restoration through Christ, and in the Word becoming flesh. Grace does not merely wait outside hardened ground for permission to enter. It reveals, restores, and calls us to see what is already there.
Another beautiful post, thank you, and much food for thought. When you say the divine descends, do you mean in terms of lowering its frequency to become compatible with our lower vibration? Otherwise it would imply a hierarchy while the divine is also immanent in us.
Thank you Sue, very insightful comment! I’d hesitate to understand the Divine descent literally as God lowering a frequency or vibration, since that can subtly make God one energy among other energies, only existing at a higher level. God isn’t simply the highest being within the universe, but the inexhaustible source of being itself… infinitely transcendent, but more inward to us than we are to ourselves.
By “descent” I mean something closer to Divine self-emptying… God makes himself receivable without ceasing to be infinite. The Word becomes flesh… grace enters the particular… the Eternal consents to be encountered within time, matter, suffering, human limitation, etc. It’s not that God has to diminish his divinity to become compatible with us, but that Divine love veils its radiance so that we might freely receive it.
In a way the “descent” is a bit paradoxical, isn’t it? God comes to us from beyond us, yet he arrives in the deepest ground of our own being. He doesn’t travel across a physical distance… and what descends is the self-giving form of Divine love.
Any way, I hope that clarifies my meaning, and thanks for the thoughtful reading of this piece!
There is so much important truth in this… I will save it for re-reading and contemplation. What kept coming up for me is the idolatry of our lives… how we make idols of our Self, others, work, entertainment, church, success, emotion, etc. and how we allow this idolatry to block God’s love and presence from our hearts. Truly, letting go of all desires but the one for communion with the Divine is a daily necessity.
Yes, it’s a constant battle isn’t it Korie? We must always strive to be watchful and awake!