Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Friday, December 30, 2022

BIRTH

Birth is never easy

never

 

there is the waiting

the long time of expectation mixed with fear

will the child ever come

will it be what we hoped and dreamed for

 

there are dangers to that expectancy too

will we accept the child as the child comes

will rejoice in who he is, who she is

or will we try to remake him, reshape her in our own image?

 

there is cost too

for birth requires change

commitment, and accountability!

a birth is a sacred trust

into our hands

a child is born

 

there is pain

the pain of birth is real

messy

a time of travail

 

and yet the child will come

 

on this Christmas Eve we come to the time of birthing

we stumble unexpectedly

on the child

 

there he lies

a wrinkled bit of flesh

squalling into the night

the delight of his mother's

eyes

 

but to us

just a baby

just that pink

and squalling mess

 

that baby in a manger

so common

 

and yet

 

lying there in that trough

made for feeding

 

do we not see glimmers of some truth

that he may be more than we see

or understand

 

that in this birth more than a child is born

that this birth gives birth to

love, perhaps,

or peace

hope

 

do we not see that this baby is soaked with the divine

and that this birth gives birth

 

that he may be

food for the world

that he might become

bread broken

and wine poured

 

sustenance for us

what we need to live

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