Three Ways to Presence

There are three different attempts in the Christian gospels of Jesus to tell us about his entry into the world. One is mundane. One is magical. And one is philosophical. That observation alone tells me that early Christians reflecting on the life, actions and wisdom of Jesus understood that there was mystery at work not only in his life, but in all our lives.

Luke’s gospel tells the mundane story. A poor carpenter and his young wife on the verge of giving birth make a long trip to their ancestral home to register there for taxation by the Roman government. As one might expect, she goes into labor, and very quickly, they find the only place for them is in an animal’s keep because “there was no room in the inn.” That’s when the mundane draws us into the present moment. Around this baby laid in the feeding trough is visited by shepherds, the poorest of the poor. They reported that angels had appeared to them out of nowhere and directed them to this baby whom they should honor with a visit. This terribly unspecial set of circumstances became special at that moment. 

Matthew’s gospel tells the rather magical story of three magi (the word Romans used for sorcerer, magician, witch, wise-person, and astrologer) who came from some place in the East. They had been reading the stars, and they were told to follow a particular star that would hover over the place where a special child was born. They were to go there and honor him with their presence. They did this, bringing gifts that signify abundance, honor and even life and death. 

John’s gospel never quite makes it to story level around the birth of Jesus. Instead, he goes all philosophical on us. He wants us to imagine, in Greek philosophical terms, that there is an organizing principle that holds the entire Universe together. It is known as the Word. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” as a human manifestation of the Divine Principle. In a way, this philosophical view of Jesus comes full circle because it means–in all of its high minded ways–that the Divine is to be found in the most mundane, every day sort of relationships, yours and mine.

When we bring our attention, energy and compassion to focus on our relationships, we are in touch with the divine principle that we Unitarian Universalists call the Interdependent Web of All Existence. We find it in an experience with a family member, a neighbor, a stranger, a cat or dog. When we become present in the here and now, the divine and eternal do, too. Living love is that way–always in relationships, here and now.

~Bob Patrick