Who Do You Say That I AM?
A Meditation for Advent Four
Jacob wrestled with God all night.
Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. Genesis 32.28
ישראל Yi-shra-el from שרה (sara), to become solid from the retention of liquidity – אל (‘el), God
…you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days… Micah 5.2
From the small place in me, the simple place, the house of bread and fruit in me, in the place of origin, the eternal source of me, there will I find the Christ in me, Master of my grappling soul. Here, when the threshing is done, the night gone and morning come, I find the blessing One. I have fought all night with God and man, and I did not give in. In flow of blessing, I rise to a new day and walk on.
He abolishes the first (guilt offerings) in order to establish the second (the way of God). And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10.10
I go to do your will now. This dark night of soul, my spirit has prevailed. Yet it was not me who prevailed but the Christ in me. It is the Christ in me who moves me now. I go to do your will. I will walk in your Way. I will go to the people in your holy Name.
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Luke 1.39
Traveling in the radiant light of mystic joy, she can hardly wait to greet her sister in Christ. Together, they will bare the Preparation and the Way, the Threshing and the Blessing, the Baptism and the Christ.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. Luke 1.41
Dark night of soul and dawn of enlightenment dance in the yin-yang womb of being. The dark night leaps as the Light permeates her defences. Deep calls to deep, “Let go your defences, sweet sister Love. I have come to set you free.”
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Blessed indeed, says the Spirit. Sing…
My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name. My soul doth magnify the Lord. Luke 1.46-49
It is in this lowliness of my being, among the very warts I thought I had to hide; it is here that Christ has been always waiting for me. It is here, in utter simplicity that I finally see, that truly I AM free!
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 