Fireworks

As I get older (not that I’m all that old, but still), I find myself less and less inclined to sound off on matters theological, and more inclined to work on the whole “ponder in one’s heart” level. And this is so goopy as to border on childish, but what the hey, it came to me yesterday: the Incarnation was about love overcoming death, death brought on by sin. I have, in the past, opined that this is part of the reason why religion is often not all that significant to children, who lack a profound understanding of either sin or death.

But that, of course, is not the whole story. Death reigns throughout many aspects of life – in every meanness, in every unkindness, in every petty, stupid, selfish, deceitful, mendacious, evil act. And the Incarnation is about love overcoming the reign of death in every instance- binding up every wound, healing every rift, correcting every wicked impulse, helping the self to forget the self for love’s sake again and again and again. The last enemy – death itself – is the flashpoint where the Incarnation has its great impact, but then it radiates through all creation.

My initial image for this was a Bible illustration done by Salvador Dali – an image from the Last Supper. Not the famous Dali Last Supper, but a wild, late-period image of Christ bearing the bread aloft, and rays of gold shooting off in all directions from the bread. I saw this image only once, as a teenager, and have not been able to find it since. But you know – fireworks work, too.