Reflecting on Christmas this year, has repeatedly drawn me back to an image of the kitchen table adorned with a freshly baked loaf of bread. It’s simplicity, promise of sustenance, nourishment, and comfort challenge me as I reflect upon what I am called to this Christmas.
I have spent much of the past year reflecting on hunger and food. Not just the hunger experienced in the pits of our bellies, but in the depths of our souls; that drives us to a downward spiral of greed and endless consumption. In Braiding Sweetgrass, indigenous author Robin Wall Kimmerer speaks of the Windigo, human creatures turned to cannibalism, consumed by insatiable hunger, spread by a bite from one to another. This sinister reality is apparent in the capitalist North American culture where desire for ‘things’ is easily spread from one person to the next, regardless of the harm it can cause to our bodies and planet.
The coming of Christ Jesus, in the form of a baby offers a break to this life-stealing pattern.
The illumination of Luke’s nativity (2: 1-7) in the St. John’s illustrated bible depicts a striking image of a gold column extending from a manger in a stable, to the heavens. In the St. John’s bible God is portrayed in gold. Holding this image with the manger, a source of food and the reminder that Bethlehem literally means town of bread, perhaps explains my focus on bread as an image of Christmas.
Through the incarnation God breaks into the world, bridging heaven and earth, in a profound way. The sacred is made present in the world, in creation, for creation, and through creation. It can be found in the very food we eat that sustains us, nourishes us, and gives life. This is the gift we are given in Christ Jesus.
Significantly, Emmanuel, God with us, is made present in the form of a baby in a stable, to a poor couple uprooted by a decree to be registered that engaged the whole world. ‘The world’ is busily engaged in its own priorities and activities. How many missed the birth of the Messiah? Had it not been for the shepherds’ openness, taking the time to pay attention to the angel in the fields, it may have been missed completely. How many times do we miss God appearing to us in simple moments in the busyness of our lives? How might recognizing God in these moments help still our hearts, and help foster right relationship with God, one another, and creation.
The invitation of Christmas is to pay attention to where and how God breaks into our lives, in surprising and simple ways. Recognizing the sacred that surrounds us fosters our gratitude for what we have. This in turn transforms our hearts towards God, helping fight off our Windigo tendencies, supporting our growth in God personally and as a community, locally and globally. This Christmas may we be able to share the bread that we have each been given, in whatever form it takes, with one another, that we might individually and collectively, grow into Emmanuel.
-Annette Donovan Panchaud, CSJ Associate
Image: Unsplash/Anne Nygård; Vicky Ng; Jon Carlson.