Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,
You’re so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
believed every word would come true!
Luke 1:39-45 the MSG Bible
Hello Best Beloveds!
I misplaced my Henri J Nouwen, so this week we get to enter into the mystery of holy embodiment with author Cole Arthur Riley, in her book Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human. It’s an invitation to be present in your beautiful, wonderful body as we enter into week 3 of Advent, this Sunday. And if you get the chance, perhaps enjoying this meditation in the coming week will lead you into new revelations about the gift of God incarnate held first in Mary, and now, through us.
Stay warm in God’s live,
Mo. Nikki+
Advent III | Embodiment
I have the uncanny feeling that, just at the end of my life, I am beginning to reinhabit completely the body I long ago left. —Alice Walker
To be read in solitude or as a collective (with family and/or friends)
God of the womb,
It is not lost on us that you submitted to the body of a woman, trusting in it to protect and grow you. As we remember the nine months you dwelt in the womb, the body of God being nurtured and carried, remind us that our own bodies are worthy of such care and tenderness. May this be a season of sacred pause, as we allow time to be near to our own bodies, to protect and strengthen them. In a world that demands so much of us, remind us that Christ did not come to us in physical independence, allowing the world to take and use him without limitation. Show us the face of the Christ who was gravely dependent, who needed to be held, fed, washed. Who needed to be soothed and rocked to sleep. If we are to honor the divine in us, may it be this divinity—fully embodied, fully dignified in the body. Amen.
Breath Prayer:
INHALE: The divine dwelled in a body.
EXHALE: This flesh is sacred.
Closing
Glory to the one who comes in flesh for all flesh. Amen.
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