"The Disarming Child"

A few years ago, Charlie Lowell (of Jars of Clay fame) wrote an Advent blog. When I began this blog, I went to his' for a lot of inspiration and list of good poems. Here is one that he wrote.

The Disarming Child
by Charlie Lowell

Helpless and human
Diety in the dirt,
Spirit married with flesh
We couldn’t make it to you,
But you come to us.

You always come to us.
In our stubbornness and desire,
Entitlement and shame
Remind us that we need you,
Merge your untamed Spirit with our flesh.

We try to forget those
Years of wandering.
Shackles and masters,
An eternity of doubting
And still, you come to us.

A divine intrusion
Through our scheming and chaos-
Coats of armor, angels and armies.
Do some wrecking here,
And gently come to us.

Disturb us this day
Through sorrow and through dancing,

The bliss of joy and sting of death
Past hands that would threaten and tear,
You come to us extravagantly.

From your manger lowly,
Mighty and mysterious
You come to us, Seed of Heaven
Spirit wed with flesh,
These broken hearts to mend.

Week 2: The Peace which Surpasses all Understanding

I once read that Christmas is treasured because of its sameness—the joyful familiarity of the season, its structure and rhythm.

This Advent, more than years previous, I have seen and heard an emphasis on the parallels between Christ’s birth and His anticipated return. Here in the year 2011, we feel the same trepidation and longing those in Israel felt so many years ago, however, there is an added ingredient to this “sameness”—a glimpse of unforeseen glory. 

This week, the second Advent candle is lit, symbolizing Peace. In Isaiah 9:6-7, the prophet foretold,

“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Peace. Yet if you know anything of the Roman-ruled Judean country-side, the land and people were experiencing anything and everything but peace. Under the thumb of Caesar and the watchful eye of the religious rulers, the people of Israel were longing for a victorious relief; a mighty king to rise up and crush their oppressors. But that was not what they got. 

Instead, an the angel Gabriel appeared to a simple peasant girl and said,

"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name 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 father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." [Luke 1:30-33]

 And then later speaking to her perplexed betrothed, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”[Matthew 1:20]

All this was recorded to “fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). [Matthew 1:22-23]

Now it is a well known fact that angels always begin their address by commanding their hearers, “Fear not! Do not be afraid!” But I wonder, in this specific place and time, if Gabriel wasn’t preparing Mary and Joseph for the deep Peace their Child would bring. For where fear prevails, peace cannot. This baby to be named Jesus was a new thing in history—an Immanuel; God with us, in human form! If that’s not a recipe for Peace on earth, I don’t know what is.

As I sit here struggling with the complexity and simplicity of capturing this season into poetic prose, I wonder at the faithful response of Mary and Joseph when they were told of the Child. In God’s great sovereignty, he prepared for His Son a lineage of repentant foreigners and righteous followers. Though simple and poor, they had great trust in the God of the Universe and a faith nurtured by centuries of remembering and waiting for the Lord’s Anointed One.

I imagine the ride to Bethlehem was anything by peaceful. It was time for a census, after all; hundreds, if not thousands, of people traveling to their places of birth. Mary and Joseph would have feared bandits and wild animals as they made camp at night. Once they arrived in Bethlehem, the small town was crowded and loud—the noise of people grumbling and trading, gossiping and gloating. No peaceful place for a baby to be born, much less the Savior of the World. A rough stable would have to do. At least it was secluded with a roof over their heads.

My favorite poet Madeleine L’Engle puts it best in her poem The Risk of Birth:

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;
Honour & truth were trampled by scorn-
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn-
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Later, as Jesus lay newly-born in his mother’s weary arms, angels appeared again. This time proclaiming to a lowly group of shepherds in the countryside nearby,

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth PEACE to those on whom his favor rests.” [Luke 2:10-14]

“. . . the Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding . . . [Philippians 4:7a]

Some Advent Paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Instead of words, I thought I'd share some paintings from the Christmas story. These particular pieces are by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)

The Annunciation

The Holy Family

Angels Appearing Before the Shepherds

The Good Shepherd

Flight into Egypt

"When All the Stars Held Their Breath . . ."

I am always on the lookout for a good Madeleine L'Engle poem. This isn't exactly a poem, but an excerpt from a piece she wrote entitled "A Sky Full of Children." Enjoy.

Was there a moment, known only to God, when all the stars held their breath, when the galaxies paused in their dance for a fraction of a second, and the Word, who had called it all into being, went with all his love into the womb of a young girl, and the universe started to breathe again, and the ancient harmonies resumed their song, and the angels clapped their hands for you? 

–Madeleine L’Engle

"Mighty Mercy"

Being a history nerd, I am often struck by the depth and intricacy of time in Scripture. God's providential hand lies outside of human time (as C.S. Lewis and M. L'Engle, some of my favorite authors, so fondly focus), making His movement on Earth all the more mysterious and sovereign. Today I stumbled upon a poem by John Piper, written about this very topic. With permission from his website desiringgod.org, I'll share it with you now.

God loves to "magnify His sovereign strength." This is the answer to the question John Piper poses in the poem "Mighty Mercy": Why did God choose such "strange and roundabout" providence "[t]o get Messiah where He must be born?" This poem exalts God's absolute sovereignty in the "flukes of history."

  

Mighty Mercy

By John Piper, December 19, 1982

Why did He choose a northern maid
From Nazareth, who had to trade
Her Galilee for Judah just
To get Messiah where He must
Be born? A strange and roundabout
Procedure for a God, no doubt,
Who values His efficiency
And rules the world from sea to sea!
Why not a girl from Bethlehem?
Well half the girls in town would stem
From David's line. And carpenters
Aplenty there could bear the slurs
And gossip on a virgin got
with child, who blushed and said she'd not
Once kissed her man this whole year past.
Why not? Because God's power is vast,
And in one little virgin birth
His sovereign joy and mighty mirth
In saving us from evil bent
Could never, never rest content.
Instead He turned and set His sight
To spangle Rome with all His might;
And took a girl from Galilee
To magnify His sovereignty.
And made the Roman king conspire
With God, to serve a purpose higher
Than he or any in the realm
Could see—a stroke to overwhelm
A few with faith and cause their heart
To know the truth, at least in part,
That, though God loves efficiency
And rules the world from sea to sea,
He does not go from here to there
By shortest routes to save His fare.
He'd rather start in Galilee,
Then pass a law in Rome, you see,
To get the child down south at length,
And magnify His sovereign strength.
God rules the flukes of history
To see that Micah's prophecy
Comes true. Why did He choose a maid
From Nazareth? Perhaps she prayed
That endless mercy might abound
And take the longer way around.
The mighty mercy we adore
As we light advent candle four. 

“. . . For Who Can Endure the Day of His Coming?”

This is a poem by Luci Shaw. Enjoy!

“. . . For Who Can Endure the Day of His Coming?” Malachi 3:2

When an Angel

snapped the old thin threads of speech

with an untimely birth

announcement, slit

the seemly cloth of an even

more blessed event with the

shears of miracle,

invaded the privacy of a dream,

multiplied

to ravage the dark silk of the sky, the

innocent ears

with swords of sound: news in a new dimension demanded

qualification.

The righteous were as vulnerable as others.

they trembled for those strong

antecedent fear nots, whether goat-

herds, virgins, workers in wood or

holy barren priests.

In our nights our

complicated modern dreams rarely

flower into visions. No

contemporary Gabriel

dumbfounds our worship, or burning,

visits our bedrooms. No

sign-post satellite hauls us, earth-bound but

star-struck, half

around the world with hope.

Are our sensibilities

too blunt to be assaulted

with spatial power-plays and far-out

proclamations of peace? Sterile,

skeptics, yet we may be broken

to his slow silent birth

(new-torn, new-

born ourselves at his

beginning new in us).

His bigness may still burst

out self-containment

to tell us—without angels’ mouths—

fear not.

God knows we need to hear it, now

when he may shatter

with his most shocking coming

this proud cracked place

and more if, for longer waiting,

he does not.

-Luci Shaw

The Waiting is Hard, But the Hope is Secure

The first candle around the Advent wreath symbolizes Hope. It tells the stories of the Old Testament prophets and the heavenly promises they foretold.

Hope? When I read these prophecies and think about the thousands of years on Earth before Christ entered as a human baby, I don't think of hope, I think of waiting and wandering, complaining and compromising. The word hope comes to mind as I see the story unfold. The angels, the fear, the promise, the journey, the glorious announcements. My faith in God's story seems to require some sight. And that is not right.

What the God of the universe set into motion when the Earth, just born, was tainted by sin--it can only be described as Hope. Back in Eden, Adam and Eve most likely felt fear, anxiety and gloom. Their future was no longer garden-fresh and secured, but colored by toil and sin.

Skip ahead a few thousand years and I feel the same. Where waiting is hard and hope is just another word to describe the fear and the feelings all jumbled inside. And I know I'm not the only one. . .  How do we get to the point in this life where anticipation brings joy and not stress or disdain?

Anna and Simeon knew how to hope. They longed to see the Lord's promised Messiah; the fulfillment of prophecies from Micah and Isaiah. (Read Luke 2:22-39) They had waited; God's Hope came down.

So this is what I think: It is not up to us to hope. If it were, our expectations would ever be dashed. It is our job to call on the One who is and was and will be our Hope. He is the One they were waiting for, thousands of years ago. And He is the One we are waiting for, today. If there's one thing to learned from Advent this year, it's this: The waiting is hard, but the Hope is secure.

"In the First Light"

This weekend I am in Wisconsin to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. At some point after the actual Thanksgiving festivities of sibling cook-offs, What-I-am-Thankful-For's, and turkey left-overs, we jump in our trusty minivan and drive to the Christmas Tree Farm.


It was not a very bright day. In fact, it was rather dreary and wet as we set off. I don't know if we've ever gone Christmas tree hunting in the rain, but that did not stop us. As we pull off the highway onto the one-lane country road edging towards the farm, we traditionally plugged in my iPod to listen to some GLAD. The all-male acapella group of the '80s and '90s just gets it right when it comes to beginning the Advent Season. Below are the lyrics and a link so you can listen for yourself.


     In the first light of a new day 
     No one knew He had arrived
     Things continued as they had been
     While a new born softly cried.

     But the heavens wrapped in wonder
     Knew the meaning of His birth
     In the weakness of a baby
     They knew God had come to earth.

     As His mother held him closely,
     It was hard to understand
     That her baby not yet speaking
     Was the Word of God to man.

     He would tell them of His kingdom,
     But their hearts would not believe
     They would hate Him and in anger
     They would nail Him to a tree.

     But the sadness would be broken
     As the song of life arose
     And the First born of creation
     Would ascend and take his throne.

     He has left it to redeem us,
     But before His life began
     He knew He´d come back not as a baby
     But as The Lord of ev´ry man.

     Hear the angels as they´re singing
     On the morning of His birth
     But how much greater will our song be
     When He comes again
     When He comes again

     Hear the angels as they´re singing
     On the morning of His birth
     But how much greater will our song be
     When He comes again to Earth

     When He comes to rule the Earth!

As you listen and read the words, remember why we set aside so much of our yearly schedule to celebrate on this season.  

A Welcome Back to Advent

Dear friends (and those who find that they have stumbled upon this oddly titled blog by mistake),

I would like to re-introduce you to Advent and this blog. In latin adventus means "coming." For those who embrace Western Christianity, Advent is the season of four weeks leading up to Christmas--the celebration of Christ's birth. It is a time of joyful expectation and preparation. The four weeks are marked by the four Sundays, on which the candles of the Advent wreath are lit. Each week/candle carries a theme: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. 

In poetic terms, Christ's ancestry was a Lineage of Expectation. In the following days and weeks I will do my best to reflect on this theme and draw us closer to Christ's birth. In addition to my own thoughts, I will include poems and reflections from some of the great writers in Christian history and list passages of Scripture that point to the coming of the Messiah.

Thank you for sharing in this journey with me. I'm excited, and I hope this brings meaning to what the world calls "the Christmas season."