A Christmas Prayer

Baby-small

vulnerable
risk-taking God,
re-enter our hearts
as we ponder your coming amongst us.

Holy and beautiful

radiant God,
shine in our dark
as we think of your birth in the stable.

Peaceful and merciful

all-loving God,
pour your compassion out through us.

Let us love like you,

live like you ,
bear your Good News to our world.

Let Emmanuel

live on through us.

Baby-small

vulnerable
risk-taking God,

re-enter our hearts

as we ponder your coming amongst us.

Amen

.

Spirit of the Incarnation

Spirit of the Incarnation

Holy birther

of possibility

rushing wind

dancing flame
seed
within the womb

gentle whisperer

promise nurturer
midwife
of change

in this flawed

and wounded temple
of my being

be the energy of God

within

dismantle
my resistance
to your flow,
break through
with power and wisdom,
and shine
gloriously shine

Spirit of the Incarnation

be fully enfleshed
in this place
this time
 
in me
.

A Whisper in the Night

He came

out of nowhere,
like a whisper in the night,
delivered the message,
the truly astounding message,
and then
like a half forgotten dream in the morning
he was gone
as if he'd never been,
leaving me wondering
pondering
wrestling with questions unanswerable,
knowing that everything
every single thing
had just
changed.

I had said my yes

and now
there was no turning back.

I rested my hand

on my belly
and pondered
the mystery of it all.

.

The Longing

         The Woman with Bleeding  -  Mark 5.21-34

no-one knows what it’s like

inside this blood-stained loneliness

twelve years

of ‘unclean: don’t touch’

a decade and more of discomfort

my body drained

by the constant issue of blood
hard edges of rejection
chiselling away
at my self-respect

the whispers

ruthless
unforgiving 

keep away

don’t touch
she is unclean

heavy

with the pain
between my loins
tired of being ostracized
weary
of the fruitless search for help
my spirit hemorrhaging                                                   
with the blood

I long

for the bleeding to stop

 

 

Headlong to Christmas

the rush

has begun

and we know

it can only get worse
as we race
headlong
towards
what passes
for the celebrations of your birth

holy child

give us
islands of stillness
in the frenzy of preparation

give us snatches

of peace
amid the tensions
of others’ expectations

and in the excesses

of the shopping mall
remind us
of the simple poverty
of the stable

holy child

as we rush towards Christmas
give us your stillness
your peace
your simplicity

give us especially

the gift of yourself

 

Almost Unnoticed

an angel
interrupts
an ordinary day
the Holy Spirit
comes upon a simple girl
a pregnancy begins

almost unnoticed

everything changes

in a hidden corner

of a city that had no room
a birthing struggle
ends
a Saviour
lies in the straw
a new world order
dawns
 
almost unnoticed
everything changes

heaven’s announcement

is placed in the hands
of those
whom society rejects
the first shall be last
and the last
shall be first

almost unnoticed

the Living Word, Prince of Peace
Promised Saviour, Mighty God
slips into the world
with flesh and blood skin on

and everything

everything
changes

 

And a Child Will Be Born

And a child will be born
to Mary;
fragile,
vulnerable, weak
in his humanness;
wonderful, strong,
life-changing
in his divinity;
unlike any other
in his power
to shape creation.

A child will be born to Mary:

he will be
Emmanuel,
God
with us.

.