Advent Day 24 - Paradox

It has been a week or so since I posted - just the final prep for Christmas both at home and at the church. Life.

The last few days, I’ve been reading a lot about paradoxes and I’ll be preaching on something of that tonight in our Christmas Eve service - about how God uses what seems to be insignificant to do the extraordinary. In Breathing Under Water, Richard Rohr writes:

Almost all true spirituality has a paradoxical character to it, which is why the totally rational or dualistic mind invariably misses the point, and just calls things it does not understand wrong, heresy, or stupid. G.K. Chesterton said that paradox is simply truth standing on its head to get our attention! Christians actually revel in paradoxes without even realizing it: Jesus is totally human and totally divine at the same time, God is both one and three at the same time, Mary is both virgin and mother at the same time, the bread is both wheat and Jesus at the same time.

I read that just a few days ago. And in the Christmas story, we have the paradox that a baby born in such an insignificant way is the savior of the world. I find that I am more and more comfortable with these paradoxes - not feeling the need to explain them away but instead to accept them and live in the beautiful mystery that is within.

I saw this leaf yesterday morning as I was walking and talking my sermon out. Speaks to me of how these paradoxes look - one leaf but different sides to it.

Merry Christmas!