Birthing God: a meditation on the first Sunday of Advent lectionary readings
Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 24:37-44
Star-particles swirl and a mantle of blank-black bends to heave in labor.
“As it was in the days of Noah…”
A domed half-crescent silhouette across the constellated universe,
barely seen beyond the stars,
what galaxies hang upon, the edge of the universe’s sphere:
the curve of a laboring back.
“For you do not know on which day your Lord will come…”
Continually, like the beat of a drum deep within the recesses of the heart there is a coming, an adventus.
As the stars - undying in their deaths - implode to create more dust for Life.
As gravity makes orbs and curvatures of a minimalist theme unendingly repeated.
As the Star of the Self, pulled by gravity to implode from within, burning, undyingly reincarnate, coming at an hour unexpected; the hour of the continual Present. For as Meister Eckhart said,
“We are all meant to be mothers of God...for God is always needing to be born.”
Born, just as our Mother Universe births the body of the continually dying, continually living Christ; our Mother holding and containing the womb of our Reality. For even at the hour of death, this body of the Universe looks at us from the cosmic cross of suffering that is continually renewed into life and whispers,
“Woman, behold your Child…”
And we hear at our most silent hours the echo of the grass, the sky, the wind, and the Inner Fire,
“Child, behold your Mother!”1
And it is here, and only here, that we might be able to fulfill the prophet’s oracle and
“…beat [our] swords into plowshares and [our] spears into pruning hooks….”
Only if we see the sign in the sky of Our Mother birthing2 every single unexpected moment will we awaken to the simple fact that our inner violence is not needed - that She has birthed All, and All are our kin, even our deepest Selves. It is here that we meet Her gaze; the gaze of the sensuous earth and realize that Her labor is ours.
“By consenting, we open to God as God is without trying to figure out who or what God is. We consent to the divine presence without depending on a medium to express it, translate it, or interpret it in terms of our personal history, cultural conditioning, and temperamental bias. God communicates [God’s Self] on only one condition: our consent.” - Fr. Thomas Keating
On Sunday December 4th at 2:00pm CST I will be offering a short 20-30 minute introductory course in Centering Prayer followed by a 20 minute communal Centering Prayer practice session. Free and online. To register, simply let me know of your interest in an email response and I will respond back with the zoom link. I’d love to see you there!
Besides deepening communion with Spirit, meditation is proven to reduce anxiety, give clarity in the midst of stress, increase acceptance of unchangeable life situations (surrender), and open one’s heart to experience joy.
Thanks to my beloved partner, Shannon Evans’ Patreon community, this introductory session is completely free for participates. This community is dedicated to funding retreats and scholarships for spiritual growth opportunities. If you’d like to be a part of this wonderful community check it out here.
A beautiful book by abbess of the Upaya Institute and Zen Center Roshi Joan Halifax, this book interweaves Buddhist practice with ancient tribal wisdom. I’m struck by the incredibly beautiful meditative tone with which Roshi Joan writes. This book will make you want to enter the fruitful darkness of your life in meditative practice, in the shadow of mountains, the singing of blowing plains. It’s an incredibly attuned, awake, and sensitive book. As the winter equinox draws closer, this is a great meditation on the darkness and beauty of this season for North American inhabitants.
I’m excited to recommend this wonderful Substack, thique poetique. Camille Hernandez uplifts voices of Black and non-Black persons of color to speak on healing, anti-Blackness, theology, contemplation and systems of oppression. I’m loving it and I think you would, too!
Thank you, friends, for being here! Don’t hesitate to send a quick email reply or comment. I’d love to hear from you in any way these meditations are touching you here at Shouting Beast.
Bless you,
Eric
John 19:26-27
Revelation 12:1-12