radiating
on their way to Bethlehem
liturgically
the two
and nearly three
magi farther
off
according to prediction’s navigating
shepherds waiting
and the elf on the shelf
so many things
so many qualities
combine
anticipating majesty and bringing
along our silly
notions
and our gifts like cherries or a lamb
or
all of us
acknowledging
respecting
changing
by one event
this one event
the search for accommodation
which
might be the easy part
with
facing all the labor
then
all the labor
then the one
and three
and more
so many more
attending
until everyone on Earth
and ringing out from
heaven
should know
announce
transform in a new season like
a planet
going another way
c l couch
(examples of gifts recalling The Second Shepherds’ Play)
photograph by Pascal Debrunner at Unsplash
The Remarkable
Advent ends
Because
Something has arrived
Something we can say is wonderful
As we understand the scope of
Things
The stakes
As it were
For what is coming
Is for everyone
Despite denominations
Or
Traditions
Or
Not holding with any
To belong
Because the great belonging comes
From this
An arrival meant
To rescue
Not in the worldly sense of any action
Previous
Any victory
Of ours
But in its own humility
Though
With modesty
Restraint
To teach
It’s the remarkable arriving
For our world that
Is
So loved that
This singular
Salvific process
If
Echoed throughout everything
With enough to talk
To share
Shall begin
C L Couch
Photo by Sergey Turkin on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Eve X
x
I cannot help
But love the evening
Maybe you feel the same
And in the quiet night
A miracle
And it can’t have been quiet
With the mother
And the father
And the animals
And the outside
Night noises
And yet the heart is quiet
Generally
When
There is the birth
To contemplate
In the dark
And after
Maybe
An extraordinary light
That might be candlelight
Or dawn
Or an inside
Sunrise
x
And it could happen
In an hour of
Any Christmas Eve
With apologies to mothers
And to fathers
And to animals
The wilderness
x
But we might need
Silent consideration
Of it all
And then to have a new day
In more silence
Or the noise
Of a wonderful
However illuminated
Day
x
Darkness
And light
Darknesses
And lights
We might need both
To understand
How a birth leads
To eternal life
Because it may
It does
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash
Believer holding candle at evening church ceremony in Paris.
x
(x = space)
x
x
We Didn’t Know Who You Was
(Christmas Eve)
x
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
x
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
x
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
x
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
x
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
x
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?
x
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
x
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
x
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
x
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
x
Sweet, little Jesus child,
They made you be born in a manger;
Sweet, little holy child,
We didn’t know who you was.
x
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.
x
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
x
And for this night we way
Welcome to the world, child,
And everything that starts
Now
x
C L Couch
x
x
could be a choral or a choir reading
x
“Sweet, Little Jesus Child” is a song of African American origin. The precise source is unknown, and there are variants and variations.
x
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.
x
Photo by Agung Raharja on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Majesty
x
Born a king
Because he was male
Had he been a girl
Born a queen
Like Esther
x
A monarch for salvation
Of the world,
Which grinds against our notions
Of democracy
How can we kneel to a ruler—the
Words don’t really mean that,
Do they?
x
And they do
Words surrounding words
Of majesty
Omnipotence
And glory
x
Such that we’d be glad
To bow before the one,
To lie on the floor
If that were called for
x
A birth into the ages
Love coursing through
The blood, the
Organs,
And first breaths
x
Born into prophecy
Surrounding prophecy
With grace for that
And will
To make mountain
And the sky above
And stars so far
Beyond our reach,
Though we reach for them
x
How will it be
To meet the creator
And the sovereign of the
Earth and skies?
Wake up each day,
Face the sun
And do not stare
Meeting God
Is like that
x
C L Couch
x
x
for the birth of God, the next day, and for our days
x
A corona mass ejection erupts from our sun on August 31, 2012.
x
Same Noises at the Window
Might the birds
Be back again?
Another nest to go?
I shouldn’t think so
Born in spring,
Training over summer
Wild living in the fall
(cool the blood)
Sleep in winter
Well, maybe they’re
No more systemic
Than we are
We think we know September
But birth happens
Anytime
Not to mention sex
That typically goes first
(though there are
other ways of having babies)
They are with the bees
That have their seasons, too
Their own calculations
Maybe they follow
Birds
So there are cycles,
And there is each day
Today I think maybe
The birds want to try again
And why not
Living, we may understand,
Is secure in birthing
C L Couch
Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash
I hope it is a holiday of blessings for you, regardless of tradition or having no tradition. It’s a time when at least we speak to peace on Earth, which means more people think about it, if only in reaction. And reactive thought can realized in action.
I’m still dealing with new pain, and I hardly sleep at night (from old pain and the new). I’m sorry, this makes me less communicative than I’d so much like to be. I’m trying some new medication. Maybe that will provide enough amelioration.
I wish and pray for you a Merry Christmas, leading to the start of what will be a Happy New Year.
Christopher
Let Earth
(end of Advent, Christmas Eve or Christmas day, or, you know, anytime)
And where is joy?
It’s here
Depending on your mood
Or how you’re treated
How you treat someone else
You may not see it
The wrong ones will not pay attention
The ones who are wronged will
Because they must
It often goes this way
With wisdom to
Make a choice,
A pledge to difference
If you can,
In all moods choose joy
If you can’t, maybe joy will find you
If not, we’ll have to wait
Endure
‘Til there is allowance
And recourse
Sorry if that’s hollow
Everything cannot be fixed
In a day
A year
And not a moment
But where is joy?
It’s here
If within opacity like crystals in
The tube of a kaleidoscope
But made of a magic kind of gem that
Someday must crash through
Into release
A new promise of day
Without involvement of the persecutor
With unbound chances
To live openly and well
A day of birth
Such as this one
C L Couch
https://pixabay.com/en/winter-patterns-freezes-design-20135/
Night in a Small Town in Western Asia
(Advent, anytime)
We think of Jesus born at night
Though he might have happened
Any time of day
But we carry into our services
The scene of nighttime
With the shepherds
It’s good
It is romantic
And nearly always it is quiet
As the time of birth is recalled, near
We pray
We sing
We watch the candles in the room
And, if a flame is passed,
For hair that might be singed
In the afternoon inside the stable
Before angels appear
Declaring peace
With a call for good will,
The parents must be tired
Mary must recover
Their shelter is so rude,
Would they welcome visitors?
Maybe the shepherds could
Be all right
They are simpler, frankly most likely unrefined
More importantly, they have
Traversed in fear and
Aspect of wonder
I recall the gifts from shepherds
In the mystery play
Have a bob of cherries
Offers one of them
To the child who is a savior
Who says they don’t know
The true nature of majesty?
Then the sky is unveiled, and angels turn
Like diamonds in a jeweler’s light
coda
Isn’t there something that happens to us
Sometimes
That puts the rest into perspective
If only briefly?
For a moment, the created universe made sense
It had been fashioned for perfection
For the joy of seasons
Provision unrelenting
Delight in foraging each day
For new phenomena to complete the senses
In this night,
It was returned
A promise announced in the sky
An old one, a new one
Everything at first and last as it should be
C L Couch
By Robert Stinnett from Boonville, MO, USA – Small town Friday night, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69141495
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