Gather for AdventSample

After All - A Poem

After the frenetic pace of the cross-country

journey and the frantic search for any

place with a warm, clean

room

All the strange and surprising

collisions of an obscure tribe over

generations (devious ploys, barren

wombs, grumbling in the desert, implausible

gambles) while Heaven

wove its will with the human thread

through time

Once the prayers of

some thousand women and

men through the ages

filled the golden bowls

of Heaven like so much

frankincense so that, of

all disguises, the Messiah

could side step the marble

corridors of Augustus

opulent halls of Herod to be

born of a woman

as helpless babe

When that first, stark cry

from fluid-filled lungs

split not only the cold hill country air

but history

in two

All He wanted to do

was look at Him

The soft sea

shell of an ear that

one day would

hear the Spirit’s

whisper

Eyes dark as the

expanse between two stars

alert yet unable to see beyond

the cooing voices round the

manger, eyes that would fiercely

search the world of men

help the blind to see

The crescent moon

of a fingernail

curled into the palm of the smallest

hand that could hold the universe

together, open willingly to be

pierced with a rusted
Roman spike

The mystery of ages

revealed, hope of

nations born

as the great doorway

to life turned open on its

eternal hinge to release

from its great stores

a flurry of redemption upon

the arid earth

All He wanted

was to look

at Him

Action:

Light the Candle of Advent and take a moment to thank God that he sent his Son Jesus as the light of the world.