He comes like last leaf's fall

hIS DIVINE NATURE CLEARLY SEEN

There is a long history of thought around natural theology, about the place and presence of creation in relation to the nature of God.  “Sacred writings are bound in two volumes—that of creation and that of Holy Scripture. ” wrote Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century echoing Paul’s words in Romans 1:20.  Jesus readily draws on nature in his parables: the kingdom of God is like…

So what space is there in us for receiving God through nature, experiencing the Holy Spirit via a resonance between our external world (what we see and observe for instance) and our internal world (what we understand and feel)?

In his poem Advent calendar Rowan Williams sees God coming ‘like last leaf’s fall’, ‘like frost’, ‘like dark’, tracking the progress of the earth from November through to December.

How might each of these similes shape our view on how God comes to us and where God might come to us?  Here’s a smattering of phrases that come to me.   What are yours?

He comes like last leaf’s fall

In the cusp before a full change, to denuded and empty.  In falling or descent. In sinking into the present moment? In the edge or the final straw.  In Elizabeth and Zechariah, the old turning to the new. In endings, of silence (after the intertestamental period) and of despair? In the last moment.

He comes like frost

As covering, layering.  As light sprinkling.  As delicate beauty.  As awe. Extensive: For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord; it shall cover them as water. (Habakkuk 2:14).  Revealing shapes and highlighting forms, one of Zechariah’s drives perhaps (“How can I be sure of this?”)

He comes like dark

With mystery, somewhat shrouded, ineffable? With pinpricks of light, a blanket of stars. The cloud of unknowing. Zechariah is rendered speechless.