the gift carol

Once in the long ago cold was the night;
high in the heav’ns above shone a great light.
Shepherds among their sheep look’d up in fear;
angelic voices sang Jesus is near.

Nearby in Bethlehem, Jesus was born;
His cot a cattle-stall, Mary forlorn -
but to His manger bed came wise men three,
Kneeling before the King men could not see.

Christmas is here again, earth’s praises ring:
Have we a gift for Him – what shall we bring?
Love was His gift to us – for love he died:
Love we will give to Him this Christmastide.

Alex Turnbull

Holy Land Shepherd

Advent

“Come,” Thou dost say to Angels,
To blessed Spirits, “Come”;
“Come,” to the Lambs of Thine Own flock,
Thy little Ones, “Come home”.

“Come” – from the many-mansioned house
The gracious word is sent,
“Come” – from the ivory palaces
Unto the Penitent.

O Lord, restore us deaf and blind,
Unclose our lips tho’ dumb;
The say to us, “I come with speed”,
And we will answer, “Come”.

Christina Rossetti (1830-94)

First Coming

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.

He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait

till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.

He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Madeleine L’Engle

The Annunciation

The angel and the girl are met.
Earth was the only meeting place.
For the embodied never yet
Travelled beyond the shore of space.
The eternal spirits in freedom go.

See, they have come together, see,
While the destroying minutes flow,
Each reflects the other’s face
Till heaven in hers and earth in his
Shine steady there. He’s come to her
From far beyond the farthest star,
Feathered through time. Immediacy
Of strangest strangeness is the bliss
That from their limbs all movement takes.
Yet the increasing rapture brings
So great a wonder that it makes
each feather tremble on his wings.

Outside the window footsteps fall
Into the ordinary day
And with the sun along the wall
Pursue their unreturning way.
Sounds perpetual roundabout
rolls its numbered octaves out
And hoarsely grinds its battered tune.

but through the endless afternoon
These neither speak nor movement make,
but stare into their deepening trance
As if their gaze would never break

Edwin Muir 1887-1959

Quick! let us go to Bethlehem

… it is Luke, perhaps, who leaves us with the most profound, the most enduring image of God from these stories of a child’s birth.  It is not only standing beneath a cross that we find ourselves face to face with God.  The same happens when we kneel beside a manger.  That is why we celebrate Christmas with such gusto, and why some people who cannot handle our God at other times of year are strangely drawn towards him then.  For at Christmas we all find ourselves with a God who does not threaten or condemn, but a God (wonder of wonders!) we can hold in our arms; a God who does not wish to be left out in the cold and needs the warmth of our hospitality and care; a God who comes very close and makes himself at home; who stands on no ceremony and has no majesty about him except the majesty of love; a God who is accessible to all and who brings those on the edge of society into the centre of his circle; a God crying in the world’s dark, whose tears we must dry; a God who seems so small, so vulnerable, and yet is large enough to to hold the universe in his embrace.

When there are so many fearful images of God going the rounds of our world and its many enmities and conflicts, and when the dark side of religion is so often turned towards us, there is an urgent need for us to find this God who lies in a manger.  Quick!  Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.

from The Christmas Stories by Trevor Dennis

Motherhood

Lord, as you dispelled

the fears of a maiden mother

by whispering the promise of your presence,

so banish the world’s misconceptions

about you and your ways.

Come to each of us.

Roll back the clouds of doubt and pessimism.

Fill our individual lives with servant love

and direct the nations to humble awareness;

for you are God,

rich in mercy,

strong in righteousness,

ready to make your home with us

now and for ever.

from Further Everyday Prayers

 National Christian Education Council

the Lion Prayer Collection

Detail of stained glass ‘Motherhood’ Bute Hall University of Glasgow

Christ our Advent hope

Christ our Advent hope,

bare brown trees,

etched dark across a winter sky,

leaves fallen, rustling.

ground hard and cold, remind us to prepare for your coming;

remind us to prepare for the time

when the soles of your feet will touch the ground,

when you will become one of us

to be at one with us.

Kate McIlhagga