NSoC 39: The General Dance

See Notes on this series...

Merton suggests that God made the world so that he could become man and commune with his creation.

The earth is not some penal colony for those he has rejected, but the jewel of his creation. Merton cites the first verses of Genesis as a poem of God's garden where God would fellowship with his creatures as creator and dwell among them as brother. He did this because he wanted more than to be adored from afar. For when that happens, men tend to imitate the far-off God, becoming god-like themselves (as in the Babel story). But no, he came to us, as friend, counselor, servant, brother. It was for us he said, "Kill me, it doesn't matter."

He took on our weaknesses, our sufferings, our insignificances. In return, he gives us his "power, immortality, glory, and happiness." Evil and death affect our outer selves, but they cannot touch our inner selves if we are one in him.

Merton declares that God's presence in the world as creator is at his own whim; his presence as man is up to us. The incarnation is set as fact, but we decide in large part how his incarnation affects our part of the world. Do we wear the mask of the external, or take up the internal self?

The external self is not evil in itself, Merton says. It is just poor, and deserves mercy. If we believe in the incarnation, then "there should be no one on earth in whom we are not prepared to see, in mystery, the presence of Christ."

God invites us to a "cosmic dance" but often we misunderstand his intentions. What we see as important he sees as trivial, and vice-versa. If we weren't so sold on our idea of the meaning of it all, we would see him in the migration of birds or in children at play, or in the poetry of nature.

The music is all around us. "[W]e are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance."

Quaff:
What a wonderful final chapter. And so appropriate on this final day of Lent. The incarnation's purpose is revealed in the resurrection. What a savior! He is risen! Hallelujah! Let's dance!