There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on the earth distress among nations
confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
—Luke 21.25
Oof. Sounds like climate change.
Sounds like troubled times coming upon us
like a storm, or a heat wave,
unseasonable disruption, unreasonably dark—
but a trouble we’ve brought on ourselves.
Wait. This is our introduction to Christmas?
Yes.
Cutting through our sweet carols
is the cry of the world,
and the cry is not an interruption,
but the reason.
God has come to be with us
in our self-made night.
In our evil, and the foreboding of evil,
among the signs of the gathering chaos,
the Hopeful One comes among us,
small and helpless, fragile,
requiring our mercy,
evoking our love,
nursing us with courage.
Not in some easy dreamland
but here in this thickening, sickening darkness,
under the thumb of Herod,
whose soldiers are already strapping on their boots,
comes the Tender One,
whose very being defies the chaos,
terrifies the Emperor,
stirs the people of God,
and brings dawn to the night-blind world.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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