And all her journeyings was a caressing
Within her mind of secrets to be spoken.
The simple fact of birth soon overshadowed
The shadow of the angel.
The Visitation,Elizabeth Jennings

The Newborn, Georges de la Tour

Mary was pregnant, and while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger - there was no room for them to stay in the inn. Luke 2:6-7

Incarnations

I am drawn to ponder the phrase 'sacred space'. Space. Sacred. What is (the nature of) space? What makes it sacred? Mary's womb. The manger scene. The earth. Me. You. Our bodies. Incarnation. All sacred space. Coming together, as one flesh, before and in Christ.

Advent. Christmas. Christ is coming. Christ has come. Christ who makes sacred space, who dwells in sacred space, has made a space for himself in us all. All our journeys are a caressing.

Our final theme: Love. The heart and soul of Advent and Christmas. We will look at love from three perspectives. Longing, almost a description of Advent, the world waiting and longing for God, our greatest love. God's great, faithful, patient love for his world. And finally finishing where Advent ends and Christmas begins, with a mother's love for her child. Images: Annunciation, Caravaggio Adoration of the Shepherds, Gerard van Honthorst Adoration of the magi, Andrea Mantegna Light and shadow, Franklin Carmichael Hanover Street, Edinburgh Untraced Annunciation, Fra Angelico

Click here to hear Jean Edwards reading from Barbara Brown Taylor

Our bodies remain the best way of God getting to us.
God does not come to us beyond the flesh but in the flesh,
at the hands of a teacher who will not be spiritualised
but who goes on trusting the embodied sacraments
of bread and wine, water and feet.
'Do this', he said, not 'believe this',
but do this in remembrance of me.
The daily practice of being in the body
with full confidence that God speaks the language of flesh.
Give your mind time out so that your body can embark on a journey.

Barbara Brown Taylor