Another Poem for the Christmas Season: Let Evening Come

Let Evening Come
Jane Kenyon

Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don't
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.

Kenyon, Jane. Otherwise. Graywolf Press, 1996. 176.

Another Poem for the Christmas Season: Once in the 40s

Once in the 40s
William Stafford

We were alone one night on a long
road in Montana. This was in winter, a big
night, far to the stars. We had hitched,
my wife and I, and left our ride at
a crossing to go on. Tired and cold - but
brave - we trudged along. This, we said,
was our life, watched over, allowed to go
where we wanted. We said we'd come back some time
when we got rich. We'd leave the others and find
a night like this, whatever we had to give,
and no matter how far, to be so happy again.

[found in Keillor, Garrison. Good Poems. Penguin 2002. 283]

Another Poem for the Christmas Season: The Icelandic Language

[Being surrounded by Icelanders (and their descendants) I thought this appropriate. Could Joseph or Mary spoken with a highball in hand, do you think?]

The Icelandic Language
Bill Holm

In this language, no industrial revolution;
no pasteurized milk; no oxygen, no telephone;
only sheep, fish, horses, water falling.
The middle class can hardly speak it.

In this language, no flush toilet; you stumble
through dark and rain with a handful of rags.
The door groans; the old smell comes
up from under the earth to meet you.

But this language believes in ghosts;
chairs rock by themselves under the lamp; horses
neigh inside an empty gully, nothing
at the bottom but moonlight and black rocks.

The woman with marble hands whispers
this language to you in your sleep; faces
come to the window and sing rhymes; old ladies
wind long hair, hum, tat, fold jam inside pancakes.

In this language, you can't chit-chat
holding a highball in your hand, can't
even be polite. Once the sentence starts its course,
all your grief and failure come clear at last.

Old inflections move from case to case,
gender to gender, softening consonants, darkening
vowels, till they sound like the sea moving
icebergs back and forth in its mouth.

[Found in Keillor, Garrison. Good Poems. Penguin, 2002. 202-3.]

Another Poem for the Christmas Season: At Twenty-Three Weeks

At Twenty-Three Weeks She Can No Longer See Anything South of Her Belly
Thom Ward

I'm painting my wife's toes
in Revlon Super Color Forty Nine.

I've no idea what I'm doing.
She asked me to get the bottle,

then crashed on our bed,
muscle-sore, pelvis-aching.

Lifting the brush, I skim
the excess polish across the glass,

daub a smidgen on her nail,
push it out in streaks

over the perfect surface
to the cuticle's edge.

I'm painting my wife's toes.
I've no idea what I'm doing.

The smell of fresh enamel
intoxicates. Each nail I glaze

is a tulip, a lobster,
a scarlet room where women

sit and talk, their sleek,
tinctured fingers sparkling the air.

[found in Keillor, Garrison. Good Poems. Penguin. 2002. 117.]

Another Poem for the Christmas Season: Hope

      Hope
Lisel Mueller

It hovers in dark corners
before the lights are turned on,
     it shakes sleep from its eyes
     and drops from mushroom gills,
          it explodes in the starry heads
          of dandelions turned sages,
               it sticks to the winds of green angels
               that sail from the tops of maples.

It sprouts in each occluded eye
of many-eyed potato,
     it lives in each earthworm segment
     surviving cruelty,
          it is the motion that runs
          from the eyes to the tail of a dog,
               it is the mouth that inflates the lungs
               of the child that has just been born.

It is the singular gift
we cannot destroy in ourselves,
the argument that refutes death,
the genius that invents the future,
all we know of God.

It is the serum which makes us swear
not to betray one another,
it is in this poem, trying to speak.

[found in Keillor, Garrison. Good Poems. Penguin, 2002. 224]

A Poem for the Christmas Season: Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree is
not electrified, is not
covered with little lights
calling attention to themselves
(we have had enough
of little lights calling attention
to themselves). Our tree
is a cedar cut here, one
of the fragrances of our place,
hung with painted cones
and paper stars folded
long ago to praise our tree,
Christ come into the world.

Berry, Wendell. A Timbered Choir. Counterpoint, 1998. 204

Merry Christmas - 2015

As experienced in St. John, USVI Sun Times

We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with wonder and delight.

Hopefully this guy found you?

Enjoy your day.

Blessings,

Joel

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols - 2015

Here is what is becoming my favorite Lessons and Carols Vesper Service.

Sending you blessing for a Merry Christmas and a Holy New Year.

Blessed Be,

Joel

********
A Choir Service of Lessons, Carols & Readings:
A Vesper Service

Choir - Awake, Awake, A Joyous Noel

Opening Words / Welcome

"God laughed and brought forth Jesus. Jesus laughed and brought forth the Holy Spirit. All three laughed and brought forth us."  ~ Meister Eckhart

Tonight we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child - how God becomes vulnerable to us as an infant, a babe, needing our tender care and nurture and comfort. Tonight as we read Luke's account, we have interspersed readings and carols and choral anthems - sharing some of the ways that this event has inspired others. Tonight as we read and sing these words of inspiration, may our hearts be inspired to look for the Christ in one another and the world at large. May we leave with a new sense of what is important in the world, a new sense at how God is at work, calling us forth to join in with our own hands.

Lighting the 4th Advent Candle  

~ Tonight, Everyone is Displaced 

     ~ Rev. Tom Schade

Tonight, everyone is displaced and homeless.
Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem.
On this night, when the darkness comes so close,
We listen, in the stillness, for the songs of angels.
Like shepherds, we aren't too sure of what is happening.
We don't know why we are so expectant.
We don't know why we long so deeply for miracles.
Tonight we pray that we might know the one we are seeking.
Tonight may we kneel like kings,
before that which is greater than any kingdom on earth.
Tonight, may we see the holy family that we are a part of.
And may we hear the music that reminds us of our truest home.

Carol - Joy to the World 

Reading ~ Luke: 1:26-35, 38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! the Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. ..." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

     ~ This Is No Time for a Child to be Born

     ~ Madeleine L'Engle

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the Earth betrayed by war and hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out and the sun burns late.
That was no time for a child to be born
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome
Honor and truth were trampled by scorn --
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.
When is the time of love to be born?
The inn is full on planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn ---
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Choir - The Angels

Carol - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Reading ~ Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

     ~ The Maid-Servant At The Inn

     ~ Dorothy Parker

"It's queer," she said; "I see the light
As plain as I beheld it then,
All silver-like and calm and bright -
We've not had stars like that again!
"And she was such a gentle thing
To birth a baby in the cold.
The barn was dark and frightening -
This new one's better than the old.
"I mind my eyes were full of tears,
For I was young, quick distressed,
But she was less than me in years
That held a son against her breast.
"I never saw a sweeter child -
The little one, the darling one! -
I mind, I told her, when he smiled
You'd know he was his mother's son.
"It's queer that I should see them so -
The time they came to Bethlehem
Was more than thirty years ago;
I've prayed that all is well with them."

     ~ A Christmas Reflection

     ~ Thomas Merton

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.

Choir - Behold That Star

Carol - On This Day Everywhere

Reading ~ Luke 2: 8-12

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

     ~ Mother of God

     ~ William Butler Yeats

The threefold terror of love; a fallen flare
Through the hollow of an ear;
Wings beating about the room;
The terror of all terror that I bore
The Heavens in my womb.
Had I not found content among the shows
Every common woman knows,
Chimney corner, garden walk,
Or rocky cistern where we tread the clothes
And gather all the talk?
What is this flesh I purchased with my pains,
This fallen star my milk sustains,
This love that makes my heart's blood stop
Or strikes a Sudden chill into my bones
And bids my hair stand up?

Duet - Ave Maria

Reading ~ Luke 2:13-14

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom God favors!"

     ~ Snow in Bethlehem

     ~ Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.
We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?
Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.
Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.
In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. They only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is louder now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.
We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
implore you to stay awhile with us
so we may learn by your shimmering light
how to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting time of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of
Peace.
We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.
We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:
Peace, My brother.
Peace, My sister.
Peace, My soul.

Choir - Carol for Advent

Carol - The First Noel

Choir - Lo How A Rose

Reading ~ Luke 2:15-20

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

     ~ The Moment of Magic

     ~ Victoria E. Safford

Now is the moment of magic,
when the whole, round earth turns again toward the sun,
and here's a blessing:
the days will be longer and brighter now,
even before the winter settles in to chill us.
Now is the moment of magic,
when people beaten down and broken,
with nothing left but misery and candles and their own clear voices,
kindle tiny lights and whisper secret music,
and here's a blessing:
the dark universe is suddenly illuminated by the lights of the menorah,
suddenly ablaze with the lights of the kinara,
and the whole world is glad and loud with winter singing.
Now is the moment of magic,
when an eastern star beckons the ignorant toward an unknown goal,
and here's a blessing:
they find nothing in the end but an ordinary baby,
born at midnight, born in poverty, and the baby's cry, like bells ringing,
makes people wonder as they wander through their lives,
what human love might really look like,
sound like,
feel like.
Now is the moment of magic,
and here's a blessing:
we already possess all the gifts we need;
we've already received our presents:
ears to hear music,
eyes to behold lights,
hands to build true peace on earth
and to hold each other tight in love.

Choir/Congregation - Hames um Bole / Silent Night

Closing Reading 

     ~ The Work of Christmas 

     ~ Howard Thurman

When the songs of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
     to find the lost,
     to heal the broken,
     to feed the hungry,
     to release the prisoner,
     to rebuild the nations,
     to bring peace among the brothers and sisters,
     to make music in the heart.

Benediction

     ~ Night Has Fallen 

     ~ Rev. Tom Schade

Night has fallen.
Stars beckon in an indigo and velvet sky
Somewhere a baby is being born.
Tonight, the world lazes in a love of goodness
while glories stream from heaven afar
God is meeting us, tonight, where we are.
So be not afraid, and be of good cheer,
We wish you, each and all, Very Merry Christmas -
The hopes and fears of all the years have been met,
so Rest beside the winding road
and Hear the Angels Sing.

Choir - Alleluia Chaconne

The Giving of Gifts

I've been impressed whenever I hear the little radio commercial on CBC Radio 2 recommending giving the gift of a goat or bed-net to a family in the developing world. It wasn't all that long ago when these type of gifts only happened in and through churches - often by getting people to focus on the work of Heifer Project.

But it does bring to mind an experience we had while serving a rural church in North-Central Idaho. There were our very young kids and a few other kids who regularly attended. One of the church members became aware of a family living in the hotel and invited their two kids to come to church. These two children became regular attendees throughout the fall. When the snow came, it became apparent that this family didn't have much of anything, and the kids were in danger of "not having a Christmas."

Unbeknownst to me, their pastor, members of the congregation took matters into their own hands to make sure every child had a Christmas that year. Rather than buying a present or two for these two kids, every child got gifts to open after the Christmas Eve Service. If I remember correctly, one gift was a toy, one was a book, and one gift was an outfit (pants and shirt - with the tags still on them). I remember hearing one of these two kids saying "Wow! Clothes with tags! I've never gotten clothes with tags before!"
What I felt proud about was that these two kids were not singled out. There have been too many instances in which I have seen an act of kindness actually keep the recipients on the outside, in "their place," meaning of course, "not next to me." In this case, the church saw these two children as a part of the larger community, indeed as full members. If they needed something, maybe others did also. The congregation used one need as an opportunity to share  something with everyone. It was an honor to serve such people.
As we share gifts this year, may we also become aware of what others lack, need or want. And in looking for ways to give gifts, may they be given in ways that remind folks that they are a part of a larger community; that their presence matters; that they are loved.
Blessed be,
Joel

A Responsive Reading For the End of Hanukkah

With today making the end of Hanukkah, I thought I'd enclose a responsive reading.
Blessed be,
Joel

Hanukkah Lights

We gather in the chill of winter solstice, finding warmth from each other, nourishing hope where reason fails.

Grateful for small miracles, we rejoice in the wonder of light and darkness and the daring of hope.

Holy One of Blessing
Your Presence
fills creation.

You made us holy with Your commandments and called us to kindle the Hanukkah lights.

Holy One of Blessing
Your Presence
fills creation.

You performed miracles for our ancestors in days of old at this season.

Holy One of Blessing
Your Presence
fills creation.

You have kept us alive
You have sustained us
You have brought us
to this moment.
        ~ Congregation Beth El,  Sudbury,  MA

And Heaven and Nature Sing

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matthew 6:28-29)

Sacred writings are bound into two volumes: that of creation and that of Holy Scripture.
     ----- Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), quoted in Carla Berkdahl, Earth Letter, “Dreaming of Green Parishes,” Sept., 1998, p. 1

     If nature, the cosmos, is the first Book, then being in nature can offer us moments of transcendence, like starting to fall in love. For most of the human population (we are now an urban rather than rural species), especially in developed counties, we spend our time sitting in a car sitting getting to work,  at desks in front of computers, to ride in an automobile on the way home, sit for dinner, and then watch television. We becomes removed from the natural world.
      But it need not cost much to get back on the water, hence the videos and posts regarding open boats that could be home built. Because this type of boating is simple in nature, there are fewer temptations to "bring it all with us" that there might be in larger craft. This simplicity brings one close into direct contact. This type of travel can become not only fun, challenging and engaging but also an opportunity for pilgrimage.
      Just being on the water can bring feelings of transcendence. In the very experience of floating, one realizes that there is a world underneath that mirrors (with differences, mind) the works above. Birds fly through the air, and fish swim beneath. I find it fascinating that in talking about the spiritual life, we often speak of going higher and/or deeper. We live in the middle world.
      This very water flows. This water flows from the skies, to mountain streams and into rivers and lakes, into rivers that feed the sea that lap the shore here and the shores across the world, where some of this water evaporates into the sky to fall on mountains. This water connects us, it ties us together, all of us creatures of the world. It can lead is feelings of mutually and respect and compassion, certainly feelings needed today.
      Transcendence is needed today (when is it not needed?). Transcendence pulls us into greater, deeper, higher states that hopefully become more permanent stages in our spiritual maturity. First we have experiences of falling in love, then come stronger deeper (higher?) feelings of commitment and intimacy.
      During this Advent, may we all be touched by Grace as we explore this wonderful 1st Book.

Blessed be,
Joel

Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things.
Every creature is full of God and is a book about God.
Every creature is a word of God.
If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature – even a caterpillar –
I would never have to prepare a sermon,
so full of God is every creature.
     ----- Meister Eckhart (1260 - 1327), Sermons

Teilhard writes: "I am not speaking metaphorically when I say that it is throughout the length and breadth and depth of the world in movement that man [sic] can attain the experience and vision of his God."* Teilhard also says: "By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined [the divine] as distant and inaccessible, when in fact we live steeped in its burning layers."

* Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu (Harper Torchbooks: 1960), 36.

Feast of St. Nicholas - 2015

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas.
Here's to doing things for others anonymously! May we are pick up the spirit of St. Nicholas this Advent Season.
Blessed Be,
Joel

BTW, here are a few items that are with looking for our checking out.

The first is one my father sent along about a local (to him) project for kids. It might be worth looking around to see what's available where you live.

The second is a video from Off Center
Harbor about a saw-horse/workbench and tools for kids/grand-kids. (A membership to OCH might be worthwhile for a Mr or Mrs Claus).

http://www.offcenterharbor.com/videos/kids-in-the-shop-a-work-bench-set-of-tools/

Enjoy and Blessed Be,

Joel