A blessed Christmas Eve to you.
Even though this year is unlike any other Christmas most of us have known, the time has arrived. Galatians 4:4 says, “In the fullness of time, God sent forth God’s Son.”
But time doesn’t feel “full.” It feels empty, broken, confusing. We’ve lived a lost year in a world that seems increasingly lost. Yet, the time is here. Again. Christmas Eve.
Riverside Church in New York City invited me to reflect on the meaning of this day — this COVID Christmas Eve — in a short homily. The remarks are based on Madeleine L’Engle’s poem, “Into the Darkest Hour,” which was the most widely-read piece in The Cottage’s Advent series.
YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE HOMILY, “The Stable is Our Heart,” by clicking the link in this sentence. I hope the words companion you, and open the way to wonder. One day, we will, indeed, walk back into the world with full hearts. Until then, make room as you are able. The cradle ready for new birth.
May Christmas greet you with its gifts of peace, hope, and love.
INSPIRATION
TWO CHRISTMAS POEMS by Madeleine L’Engle
Into the Darkest Hour
It was a time like this,
war & tumult of war,
a horror in the air.
Hungry yawned the abyss –
and yet there came the star
and the child most wonderfully there.
It was a time like this
of fear & lust for power,
license & greed and blight –
and yet the Prince of bliss came into the darkest hour
in quiet & silent light.
And in a time like this
how celebrate his birth
when all things fall apart?
Ah! Wonderful it is:
with no room on the earth,
the stable is our heart.
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;
Honor & truth were trampled to scorn—
Yet here did the Savior 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.
PRAYER
God of grace and truth,
whose word brings light to birth
in the heart of a darkening world
which fears a love it cannot name:
may flesh be blessed and born anew
by a truth which leaves the heavens
and walks the waiting earth;
through Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate.
Amen.
—Steven Shakespeare
Eternal Wisdom,
we praise you and give you thanks,
because you emptied yourself of power
and became foolishness for our sake:
for on this night you were delivered as one of us,
a baby needy and naked,
wrapped in a woman’s blood;
born into poverty and exile,
to proclaim the good news to the poor,
and to let the broken victims go free.
—Janet Morley
Ms. Butler, Much thanks for this insightful piece, and also for sharing the WSJ article, which rang ALL my bells. Be Well, E. Beal
And a Blessed Christmas Eve to you too!
Pace E Bene