Christmas | nkchurch

Annunciation

Gabriel:
Woman,
your face shines,
your heart glows,
your eyes reflect
a beauty
that is God’s own.

Mary:
But I do not understand.
I am a maid,
a servant
I am too young in my heart.

Gabriel:

But you are filled with the good news:
your life is shaped by light.
Can you not see that?

Mary:
I can see nothing,
except a wonder before me
that I do not understand,
a messenger
that only frightens me.
I am lost for words.

Gabriel:

O Mary,
the words are alive in you.
I am here to ask you:
set those words free!
Set free the song waiting within you
that will break good news to the world.

Mary:
But I do not understand?
I do not know this song.
I have no words anyone would want to hear.

Gabriel:
But Mary,
you are filled full of such words,
they are alive in you,
ready to be set free.

Mary:
I do not know them.

Gabriel:
Yet they are there.
Let me awaken them in you
because from you
a son will be born,
a child of light,
whose own words
will crack open the darkness of this word.

Mary:
How can this be?
I am closed up,
untouched by men.

Gabriel:
But there is a song within you;
set it free,
and you will find there,
in every word,
the promise God sets within you
for the world.
It is a song within everyone
and too many forget to say yes.
Say yes now Mary.
Sing the song
and set free the good news.

Mary:
But I do not know what words to sing!

Gabriel:
But this is not a song of words.
This is a song of faith,
a cry from within,
a truth you feel,
a love you ache with.
Mary,
say yes!
Let it rise -
the song -
that begins
the incarnation.

Into winter

Still the darkness grows
and the light fades
the words of fear increase
and the words of hope
become a whisper

Let us light a light
and curse such darkness
and speak a word
that defies the hubris
of those who think fear will win

It shall not
the word has already been spoken
and the faithful know
when God’s word is spoken
it is a creative moment
words shift from print to flesh

Already the word is pulling on flesh
and stretching within skin
is love
and justice
peace
and truth

all are taking human shape
finding eyes to see through the lies
hands of peace that defy fists of fear
skin of every colour that makes division laughable
and a heart that beats to the rhythm of love

We do not need to wait for the light to come
it is already here
in the word of the one
whose promise it is
not to curse the darkness
but fill it will hope
and truth
and love

this is the light
that crushes the darkness

Christmas Eve

Matthew & Luke

Winter

As winter dusk
pulls the solstice close,
and frost lays down
its silver hush,
the deep blue of the season
chills the senses,
and folds itself into the silence
where words
leave no impression,
with hardly an echo

in the cold.
You hold your breath -
the weight of a winter’s night -
heavy with waiting,
and you have the sensation,
something extraordinary is about to happen.

It is as if there is a gap in your memory
where a distant phrase once sat,
an ancient word
that has lived there for long lengths of time,
but has now shifted
just out of sight,
but the pattern of it
agitates the air
as if drawing breath,
and soon to be spoken,
and you have the sensation
something extraordinary is about to happen.

And the deepest midnight
harbours such promise,
filled with silent echoes
of words not yet spoken,
sounds not yet made,
fingers not yet clinging,
eyes not yet seeing,
love not yet broken open,
and you have the sensation
something extraordinary
is about to happen,
tonight.

All Age Prayer

Holy God
what must it be like
for you
becoming a father

What must it be like
for angels
rehearsing their chorus

what must it be like
for Mary
to be mother of your son

what must it be like
for shepherds
unaware of what is about to happen

what must it be like
for the wise ones
traveling through foreign lands

what must it be like
for inn keepers
finding a stable space in a busy world

what must it be like
for word
to breathe
and speak
of love
and grace
and hope

May we open our ears
our hearts
our story
ready to find out

So be it
Amen

Watchnight

Curled up inside tonight
is a word
yet unsaid

the hour is late
the time running out
yet still this word
is left unspoken

in the deepest midnight
the light gone
yet there is no sound
from the promise

waiting
lingering
hesitating

God’s People gather
because we need to hear
this word cry
in its humanity
unfolding its vulnerability
hearing its clarity

and so we hold our breath
pause with the universe
and the stars slow
and the shadows bend
in such waiting

letting the word uncurl
stretch its limbs
draw its breath
and speak its promise
of a God
who slips into skin
and becomes
one of us

but not yet
now we wait
in the knowing
the becoming
and soon
the incarnation

Midnight

In the darkness
it is a simple place

the light has gone
but the hope is deep

the time runs out
for the birthing is now

the vision is thin
but the dream is alive

the words are silent
but the word is breathing

the universe is still
but is on the edge of her seat

It is a simple place
with nothing to distract… (pause)

except the sound of a child
somewhere in the middle of everything

God’s great conspiracy begins
it is Christmas day

Blessing

May we have eyes bright enough
to watch all the wonder tonight;

May we have skin tingling enough
to feel the breath of angels tonight;

May we have feet restless enough
to journey to the manger tonight;

May we have words magnificent enough
to tell stories of hope tonight;

Because God has love big enough
to slip into human skin tonight;

So right in the middle of everything tonight
may we find Jesus born among us all tonight.