For Adventia, day 18, I give you “Making The House Ready For The Lord” by Mary Oliver, which appeared in 2006 in America Magazine.
Adventia, day 17
Adventia, day 17. Today we share this short but evocative poem by the beloved Wendell Berry, “Remembering that it Happened Once.”
Adventia, day 16
For Adventia, day 16, a clever translation and paraphrased retelling of Psalm 85 by John Milton.
Adventia, day 15
Sunday, 12th of December. Advent, week 3 and day 15. We’ve enjoyed many great poems so far from numerous pens. Today features this piece by Anne Porter, “Noël.”
Adventia, day 14
T. S. Eliot gets the spotlight for this submission to Adventia, day 14. I give you “Journey of the Magi.”
Adventia, day 13
We intentionally missed a couple days. But, today I offer you this delightful poem, short but evocative, by Oliver Herford entitled, “I Heard a Bird Sing in the Dark of December.” Don’t forget to visit The Friendly Fogey where I find most of these gems.
Light from Darkness – a prayer
I love this prayer by Church of Scotland minister, Sang Cha. Read it. Pray it. Read and pray it again – alone, or with others, this Advent season.
Lord,
thank You for the darkness.
Thank You for letting us sit in the darkness.
For in the darkness, in the silence, we know that You are God.
For You have taught us through Your servants in ages past that a god who always answers is an idol.
In every darkness, You have brought the light of Your one Word.
Just a simple Word.
Your Word feels like sitting under the Sun.
Through this Word,
You remind us that our incomplete light shines brightest when we are lit from behind by the light of God.
That our light shines brightest when nothing but You can sustain it.
In these winter months, with the absence of light,
remind us again that absence creates a presence.
So, we thank You as poets thank the coming of spring.
Everything begins anew with You.
Always and again.
Amen.
Adventia, day 10
The almost perfect Madeleine L’Engle gets our spot for Advent, day 10 with her poignant poem, “Into the Darkest Hour.”
Adventia, day 8
Our poem for Adventia, day 8 is by none other than the great Polish-American poet, Czesław Milosz. This was first published in Warsaw, 1944.
Adventia, day 7
December 5th. The Second Sunday of Advent. Sometimes, in terms of prophetic Scriptures, the Sunday representing hope. The gravitas of a future better than our past, of something yet to come that outshines the gloom of dark days, uncertain and fear-filled.
I can’t say this is necessarily that, but it is a new one all the same. And, if it helps to birth hope, all the better.
Advent
Cup before the pour, cocoa, or tea.
Clouds, rain-swollen, before taking their moment.
Hearts before words, warm and rightly spoken.
Page before pen, story pushing out to meet its maker.
Inside, a child gazes out at virgin snow.
Child, new and eyes closed, before the first embrace.
Car, keys jangling in shaky hands, before first welcome.
Night, old and disheveled, before day-gates open.
Gravitas, bodies’ ache, release of first touch.
Eyes, leaden-lidded, before the thick of sleep.
Tired world, sore of woe, looks East.
innerwoven 