Wednesday, December 22, 2021 – Christmas

“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (Luke 2: 8, New Revised Standard Version)


There are times, like now,
That we seem forever stuck in our cold and forlorn fields,
        dreaming of warm hearths, groaning boards of ample food
        and safe rest.

There are times, like now,
That the empty dark seems overwhelming,
        our camp fires dwindling, our resources scant
        and our prospects for anything better, limited.

There are times, like now,
That we huddle against the unknown and tend our worries,
        abiding in some new wilderness, facing new risks and fresh assaults,
        seeking shelter against desert storms.

Would that we all could be magi,
Riding majestically into Jerusalem, seeking audience with a king,
        but we reek of sheep and the wild, expecting predators,
        and the New Jerusalem is a long way off.

But God has not forgotten the poor and the lowly,
Nor has God forsaken the fields in which we live and toil,
        but sends us beacons of light and sound, sundering the winter’s night,
        re-awakening old promises and new hope.

There are times, like now,
When God challenges the wildernesses with angels,
        inviting us into his joy and peace, challenging us to awake
        and make haste to Bethlehem.

There are times, like now,

That turn the night into expectation and anticipation,
        daring us to believe in the incredible and the astonishing,
        and re-ignite our lives with faith and love.

There are times, like now,
That compel us to see our lives and our world through a different lens,
        lying there in a manger, as human as we are,
        word made flesh, dwelling among us.

The fields are less lonely,
        the wilderness less wild,
                the world less voracious.

And it is good to be in Bethlehem, once more.

Dale