A Stream of Advent Haikus by Chris Yokel

Last year, I found another Advent blog entitled Go to Bethlehem and See: Advent Writings from the Friends and Fellows of the Boar's Head Tavern. I've enjoyed reading some of the author's posts and original poetry. 

Advent Haiku(s)

by Chris Yokel

Messenger
wings unfurling
plunges through stars to Nazareth

Words
explode in Mary’s mind
expand her role in history
no peasant girl ever heard such a thing

Advent
we await Him who
has already come

Everyone who is born dies
but what if you knew you were born to die?
That the purpose of your existence
was its very annihilation?

Forerunner
even in the liquid dark
John leaps

And the Spirit of God
was hovering
over the void of virgin womb

A star leads Magi
to the scepter rising
in the starry fields of Jacob

In the house of bread
our deepest hunger sees
the child in a feeding trough

Shepherds come like flocks
to see David’s son
who will gather the lost sheep of Israel

The shekinah of God
tabernacles in Israel again
but not in the temple

Omniscient one
comes into the world
knowing nothing

A star calls astrologers from the east
but there is One who calls the stars themselves

Kings seek from distant lands
and tyrants tremble at the thought—
the rumor of the manger King

The barren stump of David
like Sarah’s aged womb
brings forth the Seed of Abraham

Kenosis
the Knower chooses
to not know

The carpenter obeys,
he builds up a child
in wisdom and stature

Let my heart not be too full
that like an innkeeper
I turn you away

Like a curtain
night skies draw back
for a heavenly concert

From Bethlehem Ephratha
ancient of days arises
fresh as the morning dew

Grace is not
stern, majestic power,
but an infant’s sleeping face

Carpenter and virgin
stare awestruck that
they have been given such a gift

Herod the Great
trembles
at a poor child’s cry

King of kings
welcomed into the world
by cold earth,
the smell of dung
and dumb animals’ cries

Kings lay their tribute
at the feet of a child
in a poor man’s house
outside Jerusalem

He sleeps now
who has crossed heaven and earth
to arrive in this flesh

Soft little hands
will take their share of splinters
will touch the unclean
will be wounded in sacrifice
will take us in embrace

(I share this Haiku in the true spirit of the season, hoping to not infringe and give credit where it is due.)

Not a Straight Line to Glory

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the concept of seeking something out vs. being called. In immigration history, there is the similar concept of Pull and Push. (For example, the German Jews who came to America before 1880 were pulled by the dream of a new life, as opposed to the Eastern European Jews who were very much pushed out of their countries by discrimination and conflict at the beginning of the 19^th Century).

In ancient Judea, Mary and Joseph (and womb-bound baby Jesus) were very much pushed away from Nazareth by the census of Caesar Augustus. The Magi, on the other hand, were pulled towards Bethlehem by their desire to understand the star’s significance. And we can’t forget the Shepherds. Their lives, also, were completely changed by a Call. As lonely and lowly sheep herders, I am sure they did not feel like they were living to their full potential. Yet God glorified and redeemed their calling, placing them in the perfect time and place to humbly receive the first good news about Jesus Christ.

Every single character ended up exactly where God needed them to be for the Christmas story to unfold as the centuries-old prophets had foretold!

Often when I am thinking on a concept like this, I will end up listening to a sermon which almost directly parallels or at least solidifies the idea. In those moments, I get a better glimpse of the way the Spirit works in our lives.

As I was traveling by bus to spend Thanksgiving with my family, I listened to such a sermon. It was a 1984 sermon by John Piper, the final installment of a four-part series on the book of Ruth entitled, “The Best is Yet to Come”. If you are at all familiar with these chapters of Scripture or the character of Ruth, you’ll know that so much of the book is a foreshadowing of Christ (who himself descended from Ruth’s very lineage—a genealogy which, in and of itself, tells so much about the nature of God!).

The main lesson of the sermon was this:

"The life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but they do get there."

Piper draws this out with an analogy of driving on a mountain road with rockslides and hairpin turns that make you almost go backwards before you are able to move forward towards your destination. But along the way, there are signs to guide the way. He says,

“Ruth was written to help us see the signposts of the grace of God in our lives, and to help us trust his grace even when the clouds are so thick that we can't see the road let alone the signs on the side. Let's go back and remind ourselves that it was God who acted to turn each setback into a stepping stone to joy, and that it is God in all of our bitter providences who is plotting for our good.”

Ruth was pushed from Moab by hard, hard circumstances. But she was also pulled by a desire for Naomi’s God to be her God. The road was not straight, but the call on her life was clear. As Ruth’s story unfolds, the Lord redeems that which was lost, and in the end (a few centuries later), He brings ultimate Redemption through her line.

So this week, as we dwell on Peace—an easy word to say, but a difficult concept to hold on to—let us think on this: The whole of human history, with its winding and treacherous, pushed and pulled, often-going-backwards-in-order-to-go-forwards road, has been played out in order to give us the Prince of Peace.

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor,

    Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father,

    Prince of Peace.
 Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

-Isaiah 9:6-7

"Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men"

I try to post uplifting things to point us towards the birth of Christ in this season of Hope. And yet, I don't want to ignore the shadow of unrest and un-hope that Martin, Brown and Garner's deaths and un-justices have cast over this country and this season. In trying to think of what I could share, I found a sermon that Martin Luther King Jr. gave at Christmas in 1967 (shortly before his own untimely death). I don't have an agenda, I just want to share his words.


Here are two excerpts:

This Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race. We have neither peace within nor peace without. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war; everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities. And yet, my friends, the Christmas hope for peace and good will toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some Utopian. If we don’t have good will toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete….

If there is to be peace on earth and good will toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations. Something must remind us of this as we once again stand in the Christmas season and think of the Easter season simultaneously, for the two somehow go together. Christ came to show us the way. Men love darkness rather than the light, and they crucified him, and there on Good Friday on the cross it was still dark, but then Easter came, and Easter is an eternal reminder of the fact that the truth-crushed earth will rise again. Easter justifies [Thomas] Carlyle in saying, "No lie can live forever." And so this is our faith, as we continue to hope for peace on earth and good will toward men: let us know that in the process we have cosmic companionship.

(Full sermon text) 

 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:14 (KJV) 

". . . swiftly calls the coming light. . ."

Some Advent Resources for your Journey

Here are some resources to help your journey through Advent:

The Village Church, in Texas, has published an Advent guide called He Keeps His Promises.

To combat consumerism, The Advent Conspiracy promotes various programs and resources to help you focus on the real meaning of Christmas.

Every year John Piper and DesiringGod.org release an Advent devotional. This year's is called The Dawning of Indestructible Joy. You can purchase the guide online, or downloaded as a free PDF.

Also, check out desiringod.org for other Advent blogs and writings.






YouVersion (Bible.com) has many online Bible studies you can subscribe to. This Advent they have one called Waiting Here for You.









On Biblegateway.com you can subscribe to a variety of Christmas and Advent newsletters and devotionals.

The First Week of Advent, from the Book of Common Prayer

I haven't read much of the Book of Common Prayer. It's not something I grew up with, nor a tradition in the churches I've attended. But this prayer for Advent (and prayers for each week leading up to Christ's birth) is soaked in Scripture and reminds us of Jesus' whole journey through eternity and Earth.

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the
works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now
in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ
came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when
he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the
quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through
him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Reason for the Season

I love the season of Advent for many reasons. The smells of evergreen and cinnamon; the glimmer of twinkle lights; the sounds of bells and carols being sung. These are all high up on the list. But the other reason I hold fast to Advent is the honesty that the Christmas story portrays. Cherub and holly-lined nativity scenes may paint a glossy picture of Christ’s descent to Earth, but the story is as difficult and gritty as it gets. When life is overwhelming and the next step feels as daunting as the last, the story of Advent gives us Hope. Not only Hope in the future, but hope for the now. The fact that God faithfully led the Christmas characters to the right place and time (through hardship and pain) in order for His son to be born—that means He can (and is) doing no less for us today. This is a world full of pain, and evil, and strife. But that is why Jesus came.

One author recently paralleled this idea by saying, “We’ve been tricked by chocolate-filled Advent calendars and blissful Christmas pageants that gloss over the very real evil that makes the Messiah’s coming so very necessary, so very loving, and so very heroic" (Cleveland, 2014).

I don’t know about you, but I hardly ever think of Jesus as a hero. Not in the same way that Aragorn, Frodo, and Sam were storybook heroes. But that modern spin on the old story is what Hope should means for us. The feeling and assurance we have when we look to the One who can save us from the things we don’t even understand.

Advent is a time when we can shake off the disguises we wear and truly reflect on our frail condition, covered by the sovereignty, grace, and goodness of Almighty God.

Welcome to Advent 2014!

Dear friends (and those who may have stumbled upon this blog),   

If you've joined me the last few years, you are probably familiar with Advent. But for any new readers, this will serve as an introduction: 

In latin the word "adventus" means "coming." Within the context of 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.

The first candle is traditionally the candle of Hope. The remaining three candles of Advent may be associated with different aspects of the Advent story in different churches, or even in different years. Usually they are organized around characters or themes as a way to unfold the story and direct attention to the celebrations and worship in the season. So, the sequence for the remaining three Sundays might be Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels. Or Peace, Joy, and Love.  Or John the Baptist, Mary, the Magi. Or the Annunciation, Proclamation, Fulfillment.

I will be writing within these themes, focusing on poems and reflections from some of the great writers in Christendom, as well as passages of Scripture that point to the coming of the Messiah. Christ's ancestry was indeed a Lineage of Expectation--a chronology of hopeful longing and preparation.

Thanks for joining me this season!