“I behold a strange and paradoxical (παράδοξον) mystery: the cave (is as) heaven; a Virgin – the cherubic throne; a manger – the container in which the uncontainable Christ God lay, Whom we magnify in song.” (Irmos 9 of 1st Canon of Nativity)
It’s “para-doxical,” or contrary to what we would expect, (and not “most glorious” or “преславное,” as it’s usually translated), considering the magnitude of the Event we celebrate today, – the unseemly setting in which it happened. We would tend to expect God’s only-begotten Son to make His first in-the-flesh appearance to us with far more pomp and circumstance. Just as we expect the externals of our own Christmas-celebrations to be “more” than they are, in this year of a global pandemic. But God reveals Himself in ways we don’t expect, is what I’m thinking. He did so back then, and He is doing so now, “among people of good will.” Let me let Him enter my life today, not as I might expect, but as He does, when I “magnify Him in song” rather than diminish Him with my what-ifs. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people of good will.” (Merry Christmas! Today’s brief audio-podcast is available to everyone here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/45424787.)
