Poetry

Advent Two: Longing for Sunlight and Song

December 6, 2015 by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality, Poetry

The songs and images of the Advent and Christmas season stir in many people a longing for peace and good will. But peace is hard to come by these days. Instead, violent world realities incite fear.

How can a fear-wearied world rejoice with songs of hope? How do we keep fear from taking over and destroying our capacity to love and care for each other and our neighbors with open hearts and minds?

The admonition to “fear not” appears often in Advent lectionary readings. Angels materialize at unexpected times to urge Mary, Joseph, and shepherds on a hillside not to be afraid as unfamiliar and fearful things happen in their lives. The “fear nots” of these familiar nativity scenes sing out to us in beloved Christmas carols, and children enact them in annual church Christmas plays. The Advent and Christmas season is a time to consider what we fear and to be aroused by God’s fear not.

The Canticle of Zechariah, a lectionary reading from Luke 1 for the second Sunday of Advent, also sings about the power of fear and the mysteries of God’s call to “be not afraid.” In this ancient story, Zechariah is startled when an angel announces to him that his wife, Elizabeth, is to birth a son in her aging years. His skepticism becomes speechlessness. Zechariah is silent for many weeks, until his and Elizabeth’s child—John the Baptizer—is born and his silence gives way to a fear-not song of freedom and fearless worship. This poem-prayer for the Second Sunday in Advent is based on Zechariah’s… [Read more…] about Advent Two: Longing for Sunlight and Song

Upon a Midnight

November 23, 2015 by Jill Crainshaw in Poetry

This guest post was written by Jill Crainshaw and was first shared by Wake Forest University School of Divinity.

Many storekeepers decked their halls weeks ago to prepare the way for Christmas shopping. Congregational leaders have been working for weeks to craft worship scripts for the Advent season of expectation that begins this year the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Over the next month in our worship, we will wait, anticipate, expect. We will recall ancient Israel’s mournful longing as we sing “O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.” We will imagine Mary expecting the birth of her unexpected child.

During Advent, we wait. We wait in hope, perhaps, but we wait. That is what Advent is and has been for centuries—a season of anticipating Jesus’ arrival.

But right now? All of creation groans in these pre-Advent days, wounded by violence and death in Paris, Beirut, and other places across the globe, and I am restless for good tidings in the midst of despair. I am restless for justice. I am restless for weary refugees to find a place to rest. I am restless for God to rip open the heavens and come down sooner rather than later. I am restless for Jesus to come early this year, because I fear that some people and places in our world cannot wait much longer for help and healing to arrive.

How ironic that in a society where we pipe in Christmas shopping songs almost before the sun has set on Halloween, we struggle to offer concrete gifts of life again in… [Read more…] about Upon a Midnight

God with me still. (For my teachers.)

June 1, 2014 by Sonja Lund in Poetry

From my family and my church

I learned how to pray

how to sing

how to ask questions in a manner

that wouldn’t make anyone

too uncomfortable. I learned

how to forgive so much

that when my mother expressed surprise

at how much I let my partner off the hook

all I could say was,

“I was taught to forgive.”

From my Jewish friends

I learned how to value community

how to observe holidays

when no one cares enough

to make it easier for you.

I learned how to persevere

when everyone around you

wants you to go away.

From my atheist friends

I learned how to ask

the uncomfortable questions

how to find the beautiful

and (dare I say) spiritual

in science and space.

I learned how to see my people

my family

through the eyes

of those who have no interest

in joining a congregation

no matter how many times

you invite them to church.

From my pagan friends and my witch friends

(because no, those two are not

the same thing)

I learned how to love ritual

how to use my body in prayer

how to bring Feeling to my worship

instead of sitting back

and expecting God

to do all the work.

From Rachel Held Evans,

Brian McLaren, Rob Bell,

and John Shore

I learned that questions

could be faithfully asked

while still being difficult,

that one can still be a Christian

while feeling like an outsider,

that ritual is not stuffy

or suspect

but Godly if I wish it to be.

From Justin Lee and my dear Stephen

I learned that queers like me

can be religious

Life was so simple before I died

March 18, 2014 by Eric Booth in Poetry

This guest post is by Eric Booth.

Life was so simple before i died
i was the center, i reasoned, i lied
the world was all mine; it’s all about me
don’t like it? too bad; i’m blind you see

i worked real hard at leavin’ my mark
just step on friends whenever i want
cut corners an’ cheat to make ends meet
my inside’s a mess; my outside’s so neat

life was so simple before i died
when things get tough, i’d go hide

people could learn a lot from me
arrogant an’ smug like me they should be
always lookin’ out for ol’ number one
controlin’ it all an’ gettin’ it done

life was so simple before i died
each time i get caught, i just lied
one selfish world steeped in sin
an’ i was the best; determined to win

so selfish an’ mean like everyone else
i ran from the truth to distance myself
old navy, gap, abercrombie & fitch
dad’s skipped town and mom’s a bitch

life was so simple before i died
watch tv while the whole world cried

acid an’ pot; extasy an’ coke;
what did it matter? life’s a big joke;
turn up the music; drown out the pain
my world was so perfectly lost insane

i’ve gotta lose weight; i’ve gotta have more
locked in my cell i stare at the door
no one would take me; no one would care;
when they might notice, its only to stare

mom doesn’t hear me; dad’s never here
party some more; hide all the tears
sex was the answer; the question was dumb.
just tryin’ to feel; i settled for numb

raised in the dark; longing for light
scared an’ confused; too tired to… [Read more…] about Life was so simple before I died