The Light of the World

-
Now burn, new born to the world,
Double-natured name,
The heaven-flung, heart-fleshed, maiden furled
Miracle-in-Mary-of-flame.
GM Hopkins

Each family is indeed a kingdom, a little church,
and therefore a sacrament of and a way to the kingdom.
Alexander Schmemann

I.
Oh Christmas Eve,
The eve of the great light.
Augustine said, God is younger than all.
He is light and life
He is color and being and action.

We are black and dull.
We are tired and old.
and empty of God.

He is brilliance.

We are dirty reflectors.

Was it hard for God to become man?
Once he was young,
A babe in a manger.
The vibrancy of new life was not hard for this little one.
Who was younger than all.

II.
Oh Christmas Eve.
This moment I am black soil,
Lumpy with rocks and lazy farming,
Acidic from poisons and lack of rest.

Flare up and burn these worn sugar fields.
Make of me softer soil
And richer ground.

III.
Oh Christmas Eve.
By my side and in my heart
Is my one and only.
To love and to cherish,
Until we are parted by death.
This is my solemn vow.
She is my gift from the Light
A glow within peering into me.
She is my gift from the Fire
A crucible of fire.

Glowing tongue of flame
Bursting bright above the heads
Of our wedding crowns.
Flowers afire, but not consumed.
This our little kingdom,
A house of God.

Light of the World
Fill us with your brilliant Winter flame.
Christmas Pentecost
“Miracle-in-Mary-of-flame.”

IV.
Oh Christmas Eve.
Your match of light sets about its work
Upon our dead wood.
And with empty hands
like leafless branches,
We go up in flames.

And then … out of season, in the middle of the night
We glow with blossom.
What seemed like a flaming tree…
Was a flowering one,
Glowing in the midnight sun.

Oh Christmas.
Oh candle indoors,
Oh flame of Christ.
Inside our house and hearth and heart.

This was my Christmas Poem for 2008 (I write one for Tara each year).

Comments

Cameron Lawrence said…
Really interesting ideas and images, J. I especially loved the last section. The idea of our "dead wood" being burned up to reveal "blossoms" in the fire of Christ is a beautiful one (if I'm reading you correctly)--the fire consuming what of us isn't love/Christ, perhaps? And the last stanza has the near-character of a Celtic prayer. Must be those prayer books of yours seeping through. :) Nice work.
February 5, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Kris McDaniel said…
J,

really good stuff. karyn and I nearly cried. I love your way with words.

Beautiful, friend. Beautiful.
February 6, 2009 at 6:18 AM
Meghan said…
Gorgeous.

So rich and good and true. Reading this brought to mind the smell of soil being turned over, pungent and rich and POSSIBLE.

Love your way with words.
February 16, 2009 at 7:44 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Hearth

-
Image
"A stove used to furnish more than mere warmth. It was a focus, a hearth, a place that gathered the work and leisure of a family and gave the house a center. Its coldness marked the morning, and the spreading of its warmth the beginning of the day. It assigned to the different family members tasks that defined their place in the household. The mother built the fire, the children kept the firebox filled, and the father cut the firewood. It provided for the entire family a regular and bodily engagement with the rhythm of the seasons that was woven together of the threat of cold and solace of warmth, the smell of wood smoke, the exertion of sawing and of carrying, the teaching of skills and the fidelity to daily tasks." (Albert Borgmann: Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life ) So what is our new center? Warmth is now provided in a completely uniform way requiring no demands on our skill, strength or attention. In fact, the warmth device (central heating system) is c...
Read more

Idolatry in the West

-
"in order to promote killing in civilized societies it must be legalized under deceitful names. Yet liberal societies seem happy to be deceived exactly to the degree to which they have developed into societies of covetousness." Ok ... I know you need more before you know where this is going ... I am reading a book of essays on the ten commandments. This is in a section talking about the relatedness of all ten commandments, primarily through the command not to murder. He goes from there to make the point that we are a society dominated by want and covetousness and the more the claws of greed entangle us (from human traffiking to slave labor for our cheap consumer goods, to "designer babies" and whatever else technology deems to sell) the more we will redefine sin and morality. Bernd Wannenwetsch continues: "the culture of death is essentially marked by the business of redefinition. In defining our own humanity we claim the property rights that entitle us to dist...
Read more