Reflection #114 (21st December 2025 at Essex Church / Kensington Unitarians)
The Christmas story is a strange story – maybe we forget that once we get a bit older – when we’ve heard it so many times. And it’s so many stories all at once. We could choose to focus on so many different dimensions of the Nativity that might speak to the times we are living in. But this morning, as I said at the top of the service, I want us to take this opportunity to focus on the idea of incarnation.
In the mainstream understanding (and I’m sure this is an oversimplification of Trinitarian theology!), Jesus is understood to be ‘the Word made flesh’, God taking human form and living amongst us. This notion has cropped up at least once already in our carol-singing today – in Hark the Herald Angels – we sang ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail the indwelling Deity!’ In this traditional view, Jesus is unique, and that night in Bethlehem, God was poured into one tiny body, as Mary’s baby was born. This happened once and once only in all of history. Jesus is said to be both fully God and fully human. Paradoxically both like us – so perhaps an exemplar we can hope to follow – but also radically Other.
Our Unitarian forebear, James Martineau, saw it differently. And he said it very succinctly: ‘The Incarnation is true, not of Christ exclusively, but of humanity universally, and God everlastingly.’
What might this mean? What sense can we make of it? And what are its implications for how we live?
If we were to take that idea seriously, that God is incarnate, embodied, in all human beings that live or have every lived (and some of us might want to extend that further; maybe God is incarnate in all life, animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, archaea; or maybe in all creation including things that are inanimate, if we’re of a pan(en)theistic bent)… but if we were to take the idea of universal incarnation seriously, and live as if it were true, what would it require of us?
It’s a potentially challenging idea in two ways at once – it can be hard, even overwhelming, to think of ourselves as being, somehow, vessels of the divine – and it can equally be challenging to see God in our fellow humans who are often quite annoying, disappointing, frustrating (just like we are). Or downright hurtful, cruel, and destructive. How do we square that with divinity? One way I deal with this is to imagine each person as a tiny child – a holy infant, tender and mild – before the world has had its way with them, before they’ve taken wrong turns. Whatever they might have done later in life, I can still usually bring myself to accept that God – or Goodness – was present in them at birth, and I guess I also imagine that it’s still hanging on in there, tenaciously, somehow.
I came across a couple of quotes from an unexpected source which speak to these two aspects of incarnation. These are both from the contemporary Jewish teacher and mystic Arthur Green. He said: ‘Seeing yourself as an embodiment of divine light enables you to see the world that way, and vice versa, but insight, as important a goal as it is, must also come to be understood as a means rather than an end. It demands the reshaping of our lives in response to that inward learning.’ What I take from this is that if we really do take this to heart, if we can see ourselves as embodied expressions of God, then we really need to act like it! Become more like God – whatever that means for you – more compassionate, kind, loving – creative – bringing more justice, peace, beauty, truth into this world.
Arthur Green continues: ‘Recognize every person as the image of God. Work to see the Divine Image especially in those who themselves seem oblivious to it. Seek out the divinity in those who annoy, anger, or frustrate you. Hope to find and uplift sparks of holy light, even where it seems hardest. Do all the work that is needed to help others to discover the image of God within themselves.’ And I want to add an emphatic caveat to this – if people are annoying, angering, or frustrating you because they are causing harm to you or others – if they are doing violence, or bullying, or speaking cruelly, or upholding systems of oppression – this doesn’t mean we should overlook it or tolerate it. We should fiercely resist wrongdoing and we should protect ourselves and others. But still, at the same time, we can remember that everyone is part of the universal incarnation, try to connect with whatever is in them of that holy child, and help them reconnect with that, as best we can. Mostly, in our daily life, we’re not dealing with people who are out-and-out-villains; most of the people who exasperate us on a day-to-day basis are a bit of a mixed bag (and aren’t we all?). So let’s do what we can to stay in relationship and lift up – or fan the flames of – whatever ‘sparks of holy light’ we see.
It’s important to admit that this is hard work! – but perhaps it is the true work of Christmas. To put on our God-glasses and see ourselves and each other through this lens. To call forth the best in ourselves and each other (and resist the cultural race-to-the-bottom). And – as we pray each week – to live well each day and be our best selves, using our unique gifts in the service of love, justice, and peace.
In that spirit I invite you now to join in with a responsive reading which is in your order of service and the words will also be up on screen for those joining on Zoom.
Responsive Reading: ‘Embodying God’ by Jane Blackall
‘The Incarnation is true, not of Christ exclusively,
but of humanity universally, and God everlastingly.’ (James Martineau)
This Christmas season, let us know ourselves, others, and all of creation,
as expressions of divinity – God embodied – the universal incarnation.
May we recognise, cultivate, and nurture that of God within ourselves
and in all those we encounter in the world, as we go about our daily lives.
We encounter and embody God through the quality of Goodness.
May we notice and affirm good deeds which help and support others.
And may we cultivate such virtues as kindness and generosity in ourselves.
We encounter and embody God through the quality of Presence.
May we notice and affirm those who show up and pay attention.
And may we cultivate such virtues as constancy and stability in ourselves.
We encounter and embody God through the quality of Justice.
May we notice and affirm truth-telling and righteous resistance.
And may we cultivate such virtues as equity and integrity in ourselves.
We encounter and embody God through the quality of Creativity.
May we notice and affirm creative work in service of the greater good.
And may we cultivate such virtues as vision and generativity in ourselves.
We encounter and embody God through the quality of Joy.
May we notice and affirm moments of silliness and wonder.
And may we cultivate such virtues as openness and play in ourselves.
We encounter and embody God through the quality of Love.
May we notice and affirm love in all its strange and beautiful guises.
And may we cultivate such virtues as compassion and devotion in ourselves.
There are so many diverse ways in which God can be ‘made flesh’.
Each of us is born a holy child, our life before us, our chance to shine.
May we cherish this gift of life we have been given, and use it wisely,
despite our struggles, making the most of our time here on earth. Amen.
Reflection by Jane Blackall