Advent

A Gift from Western Asia to the World

(x = space)

A Gift from Western Asia to the World

(on the day of Saint Nicholas)

God

It’s dark

The light is coming

Like Immanuel

Who’s here

And always coming

To the call of the season

Advent

After all

Like the advent of the airplane

Or hybrid roses

Bred intentionally

Everywhere

For good or ill

We co-invent new things

And yet in a dark street

Like my own

With one light for company

You came into

The world

Seemingly deserted

Certainly bereft

Of a savior

Who would match divinity

With barbarism

To save us

All barbarians

Who knew nothing

Of an inner life

With you

Except by accident

Of prophets

And some other heroes

So that we knew of virtue

And your name

Beyond your name

But in a real way

To have such things

Well

We were lost

And in that town

Razed and rebuilt

So many times

Under one light

You came

Nicene

Human and

Divine

To bridge the damnable gap

That we had built

Through consequence

Of sin for will

And simply keeping

Only

To our side

To bring us over

Come to us first

As at the first

There was creation

And now

Reconciliation

For the one-sided

Who remain

Lost that way

And shall you give by grace

To every generation

Hope in each one born

Offered many times

In each one’s

Life

To appreciate what’s on the other side

Of you

And us

To model the walking over

Four ourselves

And for our children

And shall we call this grace

Of something else

It is the same

The offer of salvation

Through bridge-building

In the flesh

Of your child

The child that’s you

And us

Somehow

The advent

And the miracle

On arrival

Such wonder

Such bliss

A reality

In the making

That the world needs

And typically doesn’t know

Until we meet you

And teach us

All about the bridge

Live on both sides

At last

And then offering

By will

To take us to the middle

And we both

Also with steps of our own

Pass to the other side

All of which to say

Merry Christmas

Maybe we’ll see you

In this room

At this place

On Earth

And everywhere

And at the bridge

The most

Extraordinary gift

You are

For us

C L Couch

Photo by Darya Tryfanava on Unsplash

December 6, 2023 1

Ransom

(x = space)

Ransom

And is it Advent

Yes

It is

Starts today

Blue or purple

For your liturgy

Time to remember

That he came

A human

To the Earth

Vital for doctrine

Afterward

Though mainly as a child

We remember now

To pause

To ask

What child

Is this

C L Couch

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

December 3, 2023 1

The Day before Tomorrow

(x = space)

The Day before Tomorrow

Last day in Advent

Made it

Whew

Rain, snow

Overwhelming cold

We should be postal carriers

To endure

It all

Strange meeting place

This junction of

The Northeast, MidAtlantic

The weather comes

From north or south

Or east or west

I’m trying

To get used to that

It’s only taken

Twenty years so far

There are forecasts

But better to wait

To know what happens

Though encounter

How to plan a picnic

Must be an undertaking,

Strategy

Requiring options

(bring the ants)

Sometimes the living

Is absurd

If not cartoonish

But these are the days we have

And the environs

Those who stayed

Or passed back through

Appalachia

To stay

And all the world has

Its places

Its challenges

Its practices

And now (among

the practices)

It’s Christmas Eve

And there are days in Hanukkah

This year correlating

Come

To light our way

The world could breathe easier

Except in Ukraine

In Myanmar and Yemen,

Oppressive parts of China

And of Russia

And in the manipulative

Shadowed corners

Of the USA

All the places where we watch

For detonation

Also the human heart

The battlefield it remains

Sin and virtue

Pounding and pushing

Pulling circulation

Strain

(Sturm and Drang),

The devils on the inside

On the outside

Rendering Christmastide

So perilous

And yet we sing into

A night

We wish were silent

Save for children’s cries

For all the reasons

Children cry

Among them to receive

First oxygen and hope

Into the world

Render the night

Impossible in virtue

We’ll sing it,

Anyway

We’ll kneel

We’ll try to light our way

We’ll quietly acknowledge

Neighbors

Some will party

And some will do nothing,

I suppose

Though the world is affected

By what we do this night

And for a thousand years

And in the time

Remember birth and

Death

And everything

That circulates a world

Keeps it moving

In the spirit

In the flesh

Though maybe for an hour

Let all mortal flesh

Keep silent

And in fear and trembling

Stand

To receive

To hope for blessing

In the night

Let fighter planes

Fly so carefully

Perforce keep watch

Like shepherds

Over continents

And there might be songs

At crowded borders

And the lines

Kept distant

From welcome

Because mines have barred the way

Peace on Earth

The ersatz wish

Some must believe

(yet some must believe),

Withholding war

The practice

That must be enough

For now

Into the world

The child comes

The children come

And everyone

And everything

Now have responsibilities

To keep it together,

To throw

And try to seal patches

The worn places

And to keep watch

For the tearing places

On the outside of Earth

And, you know,

On the inside

Heaven

And hell

The human heart

Anxieties may end

Because it’s here

Our plans are done

And in place as they are

Out of necessity

Of time

As chronos

So might we have

Christmas

For a day

Twelve years

Perhaps a brief era

If only hours

A spiritual time

A cultural invention

Arms reach out for a change

Hand in hand

In brave hope

To sing a silent night

To sing in glory

Once the vigil is completed

And there is indeed

There really is

A dawn of hope

Glory and hope

Amazing

Because a child is born

That for a time

Affects the government

In minds

As well as capitals

Until when all time is done

And in a kairos of eternity

It’s Christmas day

And all the other graceful days

Together

C L Couch

Photo by Monisha Selvakumar on Unsplash

December 24, 2022 2

Holy, Holy, Holy Days

(x = space)

Holy, Holy, Holy Days

Holidays

Are holy days

The changing of the y to i

Means that’s it time

To shop

There are fantastic Christmas passages

In The Dark Is Rising

And Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

You should read these

And read them

To each other

It could be a new tradition

While you’re at it,

You could read

On your own

With a ceremony

Number the Stars

And The Giver

With an ending that

My students argued

Without consensus

And so we wrote the writer

Who wrote back

To say

She was impressed

That students cared so much

That story might end

At Christmas time

Not that the time must be

Sectarian

There is room (Spare Oom) to share

And the world’s time

Is always its own

Happy holidays

Happy holy days

However you work these out

Delight

C L Couch

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

December 5, 2022 2

Advent a Season

(x = space)

Advent a Season

It begins tomorrow

It’s coming

That’s what Advent means

Open the paper doors

Read the message

Take the chocolate,

Mentally take a

Count of twenty-four

In a corner of

The counting mind

So much to do

We say

And, yes, we do

Too much?

I don’t know

That is another calculation

Achievement, disappointment

Satisfaction

The remainder

In the quotient

Both the object and the function

Of investment

And can there

Be joy?

Yes, there can be

Mute the commercials

And the other things

There are moments

In the darkness

There’s pain

And also promise

The prophets

Of so many traditions

Say so

Generally

And now

Find your way:

There should be stars

Conversing inside

Degrees of brightness

While clouds and moon

Have come to play

As well

So listen well

And talk

There’s mischief

And there’s pleasure

For days

We might live differently

Then keep that

For a season

And another,

If the difference is good

If it’s made of lights

Like in the northern half

Of Earth

The towns and fields there,

Reflections off of snow that

Will be trodden

Blown or melted

But remembered

There is a new living

In this count of days

Or lose count

There will be arrival,

Anyway

C L Couch

Photo by Jack Catalano on Unsplash

November 26, 2022 2

Christmas Campaign

(x = space)

Christmas Campaign

Christmas

Is a month away

Precisely

In this year of 2022

Good timing for Black Friday

I don’t understand

They’re only things

And each other’s company

The presents

Not to be maudlin

Or mawkish

Sometimes the truth

Must come with syrup

That makes it sweet,

At least

I wouldn’t know

How to deal with

Great expectations

Of receiving things

Rather than

Only ourselves

There could be meals

Recipes

Desserts

Special drinks

Coffee

We could defend each other

Don’t let people drive

Until they’re ready

Turning out spare rooms

(Spare Oom in Narnia

with a War Drobe)

I don’t mean a campaign

And I do

Christmas is love

More than possession

Though there’s nothing wrong

In wanting things

And owning them

And if there are dangers,

I think

You know what they are

A month from now

Merry Christmas

It doesn’t have to be sectarian, for

Maybe part

Of Christmas love

Is diversity

And the widest possible

Welcoming

C L Couch

Photo by Andrej Lišakov on Unsplash

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, specifically The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

November 25, 2022 1

We Didn’t Know Who You Was

(x = space)

We Didn’t Know Who You Was

(Christmas Eve)

Let’s not slice it to death

This time

Let’s simply have observances

Let all the contradictions go

We know there’s folklore involved,

Which should fascinate

There was such darkness

At hand

Of one kind or another

Of the past, of

The present

Lack of awareness

Of the import of events;

Only to the players

Did things matter,

They in acts

No one to put it all together until Luke

And a little bit in Matthew and in John

Prophets old and new

We have to say

Knew and know some measure

Of the meaning

Of it all

They are extracted

And we read them, too

Such dulled and slow senses

Sometimes history goes that way

Sometimes it’s spiritual

The people walked in darkness

There might be other forces, too,

To keep us from the light

But it is there

The birth is there

Incarnation as a doctrine

Thought some of it at least

Might have been as any birth

A baby in the world

This one in a cave

And that’s unusual

And all around

The mystery

The strangeness

There was adventure in the sky

And from some people

Who in an iron empire

Chose to dedicate another lord,

Another life to follow

The child is God

But who knew that?

Mary and Joseph

Angels

And the magi knew something

While the shepherds were told something

As good news

This is the messiah!

Who really understood?

How could a baby save the world

Who is not Caesar

With family, tutors, strategists

Sheltered behind stone walls,

Armies out front

That keep the world

For them?

Well, other parts conspired

Into a birth, a life

That through faith

And later patchwork

Yielded doctrine

And a way

The people of the way

As on that night

(let’s call it a night)

There would be amazement

There would be awful things as well

But wonder now

And wonder later on

And with us, still

Praise God, for God is good

God is love

God is a spirit

Who wonders now

And offers light inside the darkness,

The kind of darkness that is not

Romantic but it

Stultifies and kills

Believe the child

Humbly, take the child in

To dwell with you

Maybe like a foundling, at the start,

Then as a teacher

And a savior

And a temple of salvation

In the city of God

(new heaven)

And on God’s free land

(new Earth)

Forever

Sweet, little Jesus child,

They made you be born in a manger;

Sweet, little holy child,

We didn’t know who you was.

Didn’t know you’d come to save us, Lord,

To take our sins away:

Our eyes was blind, we could not see;

We didn’t know who you was.

We didn’t know who you was

Maybe we should have

Maybe we can, now,

And into new ages

Love revealed

Prophecy fulfilled

The child grows up

We grow up

And for this night we way

Welcome to the world, child,

And everything that starts

Now

C L Couch

could be a choral or a choir reading

“Sweet, Little Jesus Child” is a song of African American origin. The precise source is unknown, and there are variants and variations.

This is the third in a creative, liturgical series for Advent and Christmas. The other two parts are the last two days’ posts. I think I’ll work on something else now.

Photo by Agung Raharja on Unsplash

August 24, 2022 2

I’ve been having trouble with WordPress. I can’t leave comments on your pages. I get an “error” block that tells me to go back and when I do I still get the “error” block. I don’t know if anyone has experienced this. Maybe the problem is with my computer. Frustrating!

This won’t fix the problem and doesn’t really address it; but if want to get in touch with me (especially while I’m not able to reach you via the blog), you may use my e-mail address, clcouch17055@gmail.com.

CLC

(x = space)

In Darkness

A child is born

Into this?

How cruel

Such cruelty

If God should call this down

A child of God

(a child?)

Then why not to cushions

In a palace

For a start?

Why not with special parents

In a prominent family?

Why not with

Advisors and with teachers

Frankly, generals

Standing,

Kneeling

By?

Why not with a well-known name

Conveying might

Mixed with celebrity?

Bethlehem?

There are two such places

You are inviting debate

And neither is a capital

An important place

For births

Unless by the mother stopped

By happenstance

On the way to Jerusalem

Or Rome

Somewhere we can argue is

The center of the world

Where we can triumph

(two drum beats)

Where are the triumphs?

Where are the angels

(bells)

Well, there are

The angels

We are frightened

They say

Don’t be afraid

(we are afraid)

Tidings,

Good news?

To our cynic selves we know

There is never good news

And who are the shepherds?

Smelly men

Who should be outside town

Yet they pass us by

With purpose

What?

Where?

Bethlehem, again

And we people of the world

Maybe we should follow

Or, you know,

We could wait for the news

When it’s official

The sky is dark again

With normal night

We have two years

And more,

Should something else

Happen

(two drum beats, bells)

C L Couch

A companion piece to yesterday’s. Another one tomorrow—there you will have a trilogy of liturgy for Advent and Christmas Eve. Or for some other reason. Or for none. Note this verse has sound effects. They can be left out, I’m sure.

CLC

Photo by Lasse Møller on Unsplash

August 23, 2022 2

The People Walked

The People Walked

God announces

God’s own birth

An absurdity of prophecy

Things bang together

Light good

Dark bad

(for now

for often dark is good)

People in darkness

Who understands?

God is coming

But God is here

God has been here

From the start

Before the start

God was

And is

And shall be

And now, what,

A child?

A virgin birth,

Come on

A working together

Of generations,

Places

So that everything

Comes together

Complements

Too much

It is too much

You try the words too much

The documents are old

And sacrosanct

We keep them in a temple

Leave them be

What we believe

Is in the temple

Leave it be

We sacrifice flora and fauna

We dedicate

Our children

We don’t need another child

Or of such scandal

Leave us be

We are specific

We are everyone

(analogous)

We have freedom

In measure

We hate the other measure

But taxes

And armies

Are the world

It could be worse

It has been worse

We plot

Inside the darkness

In our own planning time

As we say,

Leave us be

So God is coming

And it’s taken centuries

Ages, if we count

From the beginning

And before

The God who answered nothing

With creation

And now a child

Without instruction

For our training

As a Caesar

(any Caesar)

This is too much

We have our own children

And for Caesar

Charges and complaints

From Spain and France

Morocco, Egypt

To Iraq and Israel

Rumors in Russia, India, and

China

All the world

Everywhere

And everywhere we know

Is burden

Don’t weigh us down with more

Words and promises

And obligations

Expectations

You expect us to believe?

Unlikely

C L Couch

I don’t know how I got to thinking about Christmas while summer is hot on. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, though I like the seasons as they happen. Maybe I need a charge of faith, like a CO₂ cartridge making soda pop in the soda fountain. Maybe I need some soda pop. Maybe I’m preparing what might seem way ahead for liturgies in Advent (the good news and the difficult). Or maybe a little future holiday (of any number of holidays) is okay for the present, that is, right now.

Photo by Alistair MacRobert on Unsplash

August 22, 2022 1