God takes on flesh
and joins life in the struggle –
this is what radical solidarity feels like.
Lives and souls and bodies entangled.
Risks and possibilities shared.
We’re in this together.
The mess, the beauty, the work.
Don’t be afraid to feel hopeful.
God’s promises are kept.
God won’t opt-out or turn away.
God won’t give up when things get tough.
God won’t defend power, or privilege, or institutions, or tradition
at the expense of freedom, or love, or liberation, or your worth.
God’s with-ness is birthed at the margins.
God knows what’s at stake.
Let all who are weary, rejoice!
All of evil’s deceptions will be revealed
and fear of unjust powers will cease.
The Liberating One now dwells among us,
calling upon hearts from all walks of life
to open. to take courage. to soften. to release.
Behold, the Sacred enfleshed reveals the way of Love.
‘Revd Anna Blaedel is theologian-in-residence at enfleshed. They bring an attentiveness to the intersections of academic, activist, and ecclesial engagement. Anna nourishes students through campus ministry for the University of Iowa Wesley Center and is enrolled in a PhD program in Theological and Philosophical Studies at Drew University’s Graduate Division on Religion.’
This reflection was posted on the enfleshed website: ‘…enfleshed creates and facilitates spiritual resources for Christian-adjacent communities learning and unlearning dominance in belief and practice. As the Spirit, tender and fierce, calls us all to courage, enfleshed hopes to provide sources of deep spiritual nourishment for the work of collective liberation before us.’
Artwork: ‘Winter drift’ by Anne Gifford, Boulder, Colorado USA
