We imagine the Divine as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact we live steeped in its burning layers.~Pierre Teilard de Chardin

Advent is a ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ time. It is what someone I read yesterday refers to as a ‘shoulder’ season. Those of you who may do some traveling know that shoulder seasons can be the times when airline fares are cheaper, hotels more affordable. Shoulder seasons are in-between times. This person used this term to mean that Advent sets the stage for the big show of Christmas. This is not as easy to glimpse given how, in our culture, we take down the Halloween decorations and move directly to hanging sparkling lights and adorning our doors with red-ribboned wreaths. But Advent is the quieter, more slow moving cousin that shows up to help us prepare at holidays and stands back while its showier relative, Christmas, takes center stage. I wonder if this is why I love the season so? 

Often times in sermons during Advent we use this metaphor of the season being ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ to talk about how the scriptures speak of the in-breaking of God. The glimpses of the reign of what we have named the kingdom of God has been, is and is not yet fulfilled. It is heady stuff, difficult to grasp for most so we gloss over it. Those that can unfurrow their brows and follow the golden thread through the thinking get it. But most just let it go as ‘preacher talk’ or ‘theologian speak.’ Now. But not yet.

I wonder if much of what brings such pain in the world is the result of not recognizing the Divine presence in our midst, of not noticing the ‘now’ part of Advent all year round. I mean, how might our lives be truly different if we recognized that we are ‘steeped in burning layers’ of the Divine in every moment. Not just on Sundays or whenever we set aside time for worship. Not just on the days which each faith tradition has carved out to celebrate the God moments spoken of in our ancient and enduring life. I wonder.

If we truly believed and lived like we believe that we are steeped in burning layers of the Sacred, that the Presence we call by a thousand names was pulsing through each person and throughout the Creation in which we stand, how would we show up? How would we behave? What words would we choose to speak to one another? What words would we leave unsaid? How might we welcome the face…the Divine Face…of each and every person we encounter in every blessed day? 

I love how the word ‘Namaste’ has crept into our culture. A word used in India and other countries is often the ending of yoga classes. With more and more people taking up this practice, ‘Namaste’ as a greeting or a goodbye can seem natural. ‘The God is me honors the a God in you’. ‘The Holy that lives within me greet the Holy that lives in you.’ 

This is the message of this one powerful word, namaste. It is a single word that affirms that we are all steeped in burning layers of the Divine. Even when we forget. Even when we behave otherwise. Even when those layers are smoldering rather than shining.

Words are flying around us in these days. Words that often deny the layered divinity that exists in all people and not just some. They are hurtful and dangerous words that harbor fear and seek to pull people into camps of alienation. They are words that fuel the imaginary, and untrue, notion that the Divine is distant and inaccessible. But this One who breathed us all into being…all, not just some…will not be silenced and indeed moves in the shadows inviting, urging us to notice the beautiful, burning layers of the Holy in one another. Perhaps in our noticing and with ‘namaste’ on our lips and in our hearts, we can begin to drown out the awful words and turn the tides. Something tells me this is the quiet work of Advent. Something tells me this is also the work of Christmas.