God's Pilgrimage to Us: Final Thoughts for the Season

By Josh Seligman

---

O come, O come Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
('O Come, O Come Emmanuel')

It's ironic that this season's wrap-up comes during the weeks leading to Christmas. Until now on Foreshadow, we have shared works about the journeys we make towards God, but during Advent and Christmas, we reflect on the journey that God has made towards us: 

He came down to earth from heaven
who is God and Lord of all
('Once in Royal David's City')

Why did God embark on such a pilgrimage? Why did he who was 'in the form of God', in the words of the Apostle Paul, come 'in the likeness of men' (Phil. 2:6, 7)? St. Athanasius answers, 'God became man so that man might become God'. In other words, God came to save us, in the fullest sense of the word (we will explore this subject further next year, God willing).

It is only because of God's descent to us that we may ascend to be with God. From nearly the beginning, Christians have believed that because the Word of God became flesh in Jesus Christ, we humans may begin our return to the Paradise that was closed off after Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Christ is the New Adam who fulfills humanity's original task of living in communion with God, a task the first Adam had forsook. In being both God and man, in being both eternal and yet also born of a woman, Christ unites divine nature with human nature. He unites us with God; in him, heaven is fused with earth. So our return to God begins where God's pilgrimage to us ends, at Christmas.

In the birth of Jesus, we see a reciprocal blessing similar to that in Psalm 134, the last of the pilgrimage Songs of Ascents. Psalm 134 begins by instructing worshippers to 'Bless the Lord', and it ends with God blessing them: 'The Lord who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!'

Similarly, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, Jesus becomes the blessing offered to God from the Virgin Mary with Joseph, in the company of shepherds and sheep, angels and wise men, on behalf of all humanity and even all of creation. At the same time, Jesus is the blessing given to the world by God,

born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
('Hark the Herald Angels Sing')

So in response to offering ourselves and what is ours to God, God blesses us; but we can give only because God has first blessed us.

With all this in mind, we end this season with some (but not all) of the strongest works we published this year accompanying each of the Songs of Ascents. May the works we have created and continue to offer join the eternal song of the angels on the night our Saviour was born, and may our lives radiate the peace the angels proclaimed as we come to behold him, in this and every season:

Glory to the newborn King!

​--
Psalm 120: To the Lord in my affliction I cried out, and he heard me

• From Here to Eternity (poetry by Alan Altany)
• Orchard labyrinth, overgrown (poetry by Erin Clark)
• A Liturgy of the Wilderness (poetry by Jessica Walters)
• Sodom (poetry by Matthew J. Andrews)

Psalm 121: I lifted my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?

• The Call of the Piet-my-Vrou: Remembering South Korea while on Safari (non-fiction by Sara Kyoungah White)
• Pearls of Ignatius (poetry by Bryant Burroughs)

Psalm 122: I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord'

• Found poem: upon arrival at the Abbey (poetry by Erin Clark)
• The Sunday Blues (poetry by Jessica Walters)
• Stuff that Happens while I Preach (poetry by Michael Lyle)
• Asylum (poetry by Linda McCullough Moore)
• A Pastor's Psalm (poetry by Patty Willis)
  
  

Psalm 123: I lift my eyes to you, who dwell in heaven

• Rosary (poetry by Alina Sayre)
• The Widow's Psalm (poetry by Bryant Burroughs)

Psalm 124: 'If the Lord had not been with us'...

• Distance (poetry by Miriam Riad)
• Advice for the Long Walk Home (poetry by Sheila Dougal)
• Heart to Heart (poetry by Bonita Jewel)

Psalm 125: Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion

• That Person Whom You Know (fiction by Sandro F. Piedrahita)
• God Alone Suffices (fiction by Sandro F. Piedrahita)

Psalm 126: When the Lord returned the captives of Zion

• The Return (poetry by Jack Stewart)
• The Scent of Creation: On Gardens and Greetings from Beyond (non-fiction by Sarah Pryor)

Psalm 127: Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain

• I will fill this house with glory (poetry by Evie Huang)
• Ruins Remind Us (poetry by D.S. Martin)

Psalm 128: Blessed are all who fear the Lord

• Sweet Savour (poetry by D.S. Martin)
• Magnolia (poetry by Royal Rhodes)
• The Wine Remembers (poetry by Ryan Keating)
• Training Day (poetry by Peter T. Cavallaro)

Psalm 129: 'Many times they warred against me from my youth'

• Descent (poetry by Sheila Dougal)
• How to Heal a Broken Heart in Four Easy Steps (non-fiction by Jessamyn Rains)
• Private, as the Small of a Back (poetry by Laurie Klein)

Psalm 130: Out of the depths I have cried to you

• Predawn (poetry by Laurie Klein)
• To the Forest (poetry by Natasha Bredle)
• Into the Mystery (non-fiction and photography by H. Jacob Sandigo)

Psalm 131: O Lord, my heart is not exalted

• Lost (poetry by Miriam Riad)
• Beginning & Beginning (poetry by D.S. Martin)
  
  

Psalm 132: Remember David, O Lord, and all his meekness

• There Before Me (non-fiction by Christine Dykstra)
• Contemplating the Definition of Abeyance (poetry by Bonita Jewel)

Psalm 133: Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

• There must be a way to listen (poetry by Laurie Klein)
• Ode to the day (poetry by Sheila Dougal)
• For I Have Sinned (fiction by Adrian David)

Psalm 134: Behold now, bless the Lord

• The One Happy Thing (poetry by Desmond Kon)
• Salvifici Doloris (fiction by Sandro F. Piedrahita)
• Liturgy (poetry by Jane Blanchard)
• Spike of Light (poetry by Vern Fein)

---

Josh Seligman is the founding editor of Foreshadow and a co-host of its podcast, Forecast.