With zeal we have started
Our course towards Christmas
Taking the alphabet
And wrenching it in line
Keeping our minds
Aligned with those
Gone before us
As we travelled together
Towards His birth
Now rejoice as it draws near
Joining with all of us
Zealously awaiting
God on earth
23/12/24
And Mary said “Yes”
Yes to the angel
Announcing her travail
Yes to the gossip
To the explanations
Yes to standing firm
In her faith
Yes to carrying
A baby who would be hers
And yet not
Yes to having her world
Turned upside down
Having God
Be born from her womb
22/12/24
In the darkness
We wait
For our Light
To be born
As Mary walks on
To her birth place
Among animal sheds
She gives birth
To our Life
And over his head
Hangs the sign
Of a cross
21/12/24
Why would You
squeeze Yourself
into the world?
To be battered
by meanness?
Putting Yourself
Into a fragile baby
Without control
Or glamour
Learning our ways
From the inside
Feeling our pain
Is it because our need
And Your love
was so great
And Your coming
would make us
whole?
20/12/24
Seems too big a topic
For mere old me
I can’t persuade anyone
Or say any great words of wisdom
For or against
But I do know
If my God wanted
To get people’s attention
When he entered his world
This would be the way to do it
I love to spend my time
In moments undefined
In liminal spaces
Where movement can be found
Where things aren’t squeezed
So tightly into cages
And no one quite knows
How things will turn out
Where there is space for
A baby to grow up
In a human family
But really be the Son of God
I’m sure Mary spent
A lot of time
Pondering that
18/12/24
To sit in the very centre of things
As still as a plumb bob
Hanging true
Listening to eternity
Tapping at your door
As Christmas nears
Taking time to hear
The real message
As Joseph and Mary did
Saying yes
To your wondrous life
Unfolding
17/12/24
Coming towards the Nativity
God’s birth seems so basic
But a quiet little moment
Holds just as much eternity
As a powerful sermon
And how often do we resist
The humble silence
Which holds all the world
16/12/24
This Gaudete Sunday
We stop our fasts
To celebrate
With joy unfathomable
What a richness
About to burst upon the world.
A personal relationship
With our God!
15/12/24
In the quiet of this moment
I close my eyes and sense
The Queen of Heaven.
Mary, the mother of Jesus
Stands before me
With her baby in her arms
Offering him up
For me to hold
I sense the weight
Of his little body
As I carry him
In safety
As he trusts me to
As babies do
I sense her motherly pride.
This little infant
Planted in her womb
By her acquiescence
Will elevate her to heights
Her humbleness
Could never imagine
14/12/24
I am continually shocked
At the lack of acknowledgement
Of the eternal running through
Our nows
As nature shouts it
Every way it can
And life is renewed
Over and over
With the wondrous
Ebullience of creation
And I can’t help but sing
When I see it
Or at least pat the trees
And thank them for their service
Especially during Advent
Let us take the time
To ponder the mystical immensity
In each delicate moment
And give praise
13/12/24