Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Emergent Village

Home
Progressive Christian
How God Can Be Born Even Here

How God Can Be Born Even Here

Last updated on: December 26, 2015 at 10:48 am by Leigh Finnegan

How God Can Be Born Even Here 2015-12-26T10:48:06-06:00 Leigh Finnegan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Over the past two months, my faith community has been exploring how the story of Jesus’ birth reveals the possibility that all of life is holy. Early in November we spoke about sacred time and a week later — one day after the Paris attacks – someone from the community boldly proclaimed the sanctity of every person, regardless of their wrong doings. Recently, they asked me to tackle “sacred space,” and as I thought about the topic this week, I began to wonder if Christmas Eve – the night we meditate on God’s entrance into our space- might be a good time to share some of these thoughts.

Perhaps the best place to start is by asking the question: what do we mean when we call something “sacred?” It seems to me “sacred” is one of those religious buzzwords that is thrown around a lot but whose meaning is altogether nebulous — like fellowship or grace. They sound nice, but their constant overuse has left me baffled as to what role they play in my life.

My favorite explanation comes from religious historian Jonathan Z. Smith, who says it’s helpful to think about sacred space as a focusing lens; a space that guides our attention to objects and actions in order to reveal hidden layers of meaning. I like the metaphor of a lens that zooms in and out because we see movies use this convention all the time.

In one of my favorite films, there is a scene where two characters are dancing and as the scene progresses you realize the crowd standing around them is slowly disappearing, until they are the only ones in the shot. By stripping away the distractions of the crowd and zooming in on these characters our focus is put squarely on the relationship unfolding between them. We know this interaction will be important to the plot of the movie.

In the same way, places set aside as sacred space draw us into the deepest levels of reality. By removing the superfluous distractions of everyday life they help us glimpse the steady presence of God.

In Celtic Spirituality these places are referred to as “thin space,” locations where the veil between heaven and earth has been lifted and there is nothing but thin barrier separating us from the divine realm. As a society we recognize thin space in a variety of places, including houses of worship — such as churches, temples, and mosques—, geographic locations — like the Holy Land—, memorials, pilgrimages, and even inward spaces encountered through meditation.

In the world of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, the Temple in Jerusalem was the dwelling place of God. And in order to connect with God you would have to bring sacrifices and prayers to the temple. All of this, of course, mediated by a priest. Basically, you understood that there was a lot of distance between you and the space where God resides.

Taken from the Ordinary Radicals Book of Common Prayer

Interestingly, the early followers of Jesus rarely met in places set aside as “Sacred Space.” Usually they came together in homes, common areas where the stuff of life happens. In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he even goes as far to say that their very bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever thought of your body as sacred space?

Well, according the early Jesus movement all spaces contain the potential for God to arrive and move in our lives.

In the book of Exodus, Moses discovers the sanctity of all space when he encounters the burning bush and is told to take of his sandals because “the ground he is standing on is holy.” In Genesis, the patriarch Jacob has a dream of angels climbing up and down a ladder from heaven. When he awakes he proclaims, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I didn’t even know it!” (Gen 28:16b, NRSV). In that moment he is graced with an awareness of thin space. God has come close to him, not in a temple, but in some random place the author doesn’t even bother to name.

Yet, there is perhaps no place more ordinary, or more dissatisfying-ly underwhelming, than the setting into which Jesus is born. Luke’s version of Jesus’s birth reminds us that the person we come here to worship, the one millions of people throughout time and space have put their hope and trust in, Luke tells us was born in an animal trough surrounded by people of scandalous circumstances. This is a weird story. And it doesn’t sound sacred, it sounds smelly.

In 2007 my husband David spent a year and a half living and working in Jerusalem as a mission intern with the General Board of Global Ministry. While he was there, he had the opportunity to spend a night in a remote cave with some modern-day-shepherds. Apparently the shepherd gig hasn’t changed much over the centuries, so on this trip he got to experience something akin to the scene Luke describes in his gospel. Each Christmas he posts a short reflection he wrote about that night:

“The first time I really understood the Nativity was in Yanoun, in the northern West Bank. The shepherds we were with–Mohammad and his cousin, also named Mohammad–showed us where they keep their sheep. It was a low, dark, cave. Noisy, crowded with animals, and smelling like–well–sheep shit.. The mangers were rusty, with sheep pushing at each other to find space to eat. Not the sort of place you’d want to have a kid. I remember thinking: “If God can be born here, I guess God can be born anywhere.” (FoolishHosey, 2007)

Given the circumstances in which many of us were born — in clean hospital beds surrounded by professionals— it’s hard to imagine why God did not spare Godself the indignity of sheep shit. If I’m honest, it’s hard to read this story and not feel just a little bit embarrassed for Jesus.

While coming to see every space as sacred has all sorts of implications we could unpack here, there is something more I think this story has to show us. You see Jesus wasn’t just born in a manger, the Prince of Peace was born into a minority group living under Roman military rule. He was born into a system of oppression and violence, made worse by the constant reprimand of self-righteous religious leaders. Yet, Christ enters the world not through brute military force, meeting violence with violence, but instead enters the world in vulnerable humility. A way of being he embodies throughout his life, death, and resurrection.

If you’ve read the gospel accounts of his life, then you know that where Jesus is there is healing, there is peace, there is love, he brings it there. Jesus reclaimed spaces as sacred — a subtle but powerful act of resistance to the deathward drive of our human nature.

This makes me curious: Are their places in my life, in your lives, that need to be reclaimed as sacred space? Are there spaces at work, at home, or at school, even the space between you and another person that needs to be reclaimed as space where there is potential for God to arrive. Because maybe there are no “lost cause” places, situations, or relationships, maybe the fact that God chose to be born in cave smelling of animal feces, is a testament to the reality that God can redeem all things.

This idea may sound foreign to us — that somehow we could reclaim space as sacred- but actually I think we see it happen all the time. If you followed news coverage of the Paris attacks last month, you may have heard that the day after more than 120 people were killed, a man rolled up a piano outside the city’s Bataclan Theater and played John Lennon’s Imagine. If you didn’t get a chance to see the video, here it is…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynsq5ms9lvI

Less than 24hrs after a terror attack — the city is on lock down, people are terrified — and this guy, without even using words, makes us stop and pay attention. Did you see how the sound of police sirens and clean up crews drifts into the background and our focus is drawn towards the music? Did you feel the veil between heaven and earth being lifted? In the length of a song he reclaims what was a space of terror and death, as one of solidarity and peace. It’s a beautiful act of resistance, isn’t it?

That may be an extreme example, but I think we see space being reclaimed weekly in our communities. At my church we offer a sustainable gardening class called, “Landscape for Life.” This is a workshop that helps suburban homeowners care for creation by planting local and native plants in their yards – a simple and yet profound way to reclaim space in our own neighborhood. It’s in these small ways we that we proclaim: this is not a lost cause! God can be born even here. And when we model and witness to these small acts of defiance, it’s as if we’re showing each other the way.

Holy One, we pause to contemplate the story of the nativity, giving thanks for the way it surprises us , challenges us, and at times, unsettles us. As we gather in the set aside spaces we recognize as sacred, we ask you to plant a seed of hope in our hearts; A reminder that you can be born in the places that bring us the least joy, the least peace, the least satisfaction. That by your grace we can live lives patterned after the way of Jesus, reclaiming space as we recognize that you are already there, putting what was broken back together. And when your gentle whisper breaks through the clamor of this world and into our lives, we might be ready to listen. And having listened, to act. Amen.

Previous Post

December 16, 2015

A Little Christmas Hope

Next Post

January 6, 2016 Holy Collisions

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Addiction Advent Atheism Authority Bible Cartoons Christian Year Christmas church church planting Civil Rights Community Contemplative Spirituality Culture emerging church Empire Eschatology Evangelism Events Gender Healing Humanism Islam Justice Kingdom Lent Movement Building Multi-Faith Music mysticism New Wave Emergence origins Personal Poetry politics Prayer Preaching Privilege Racism Religious naturalism Resurrection salvation SKEPTIMERGENT Theology Trauma Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2017 November 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What root attitude does Paul say is the "root of all kinds of evil"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Love of animals Love of music Love of money Love of wisdom