Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting lightThe hopes and fears of all the yearsAre met in thee tonight… Mary So much waiting, and now everything is happening too fast. Dusty sandals hurry past me as I huddle in the street corner. Joseph settled me here when I could walk no farther, while he […]
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Toward Bethlehem, Part 5
Lo, how a rose ere bloomingFrom tender stem hath sprungOf Jesse’s lineage comingAs men of old have sung… ElizabethMary and Joseph sup with us this night. We laugh and chat and eat as if Caesar were not turning the entire province upside down with this census. At least the rest of us eat; Mary picks […]
Toward Bethlehem, Part 4
Come, Thou long-expected JesusBorn to set Thy people freeFrom our fears and sins release usLet us find our rest in Thee… Joseph Evening light glints on the soldiers’ helmets as they disappear in a cloud of dust. I stare after them. Lord, if I’d known you meant literally for the Messiah to be born in […]
Toward Bethlehem, Part 3
Of the Father’s love begottenEre the worlds began to be,He is Alpha and Omega,He the Source, the Ending He Mary Joseph came home tired tonight. He tries not to let me see, but I know it wears on him, the talk of Rome and taxes and blood and fear in the marketplace. And he has […]
Toward Bethlehem, Part 1
O come, O come EmmanuelAnd ransom captive IsraelThat mourns in lonely exile hereUntil the Son of God appear… Micah, a young shepherd. Nights fall cold and early now. The sheep crowd near us as we huddle by the fire beneath our robes. When I lie on my back and look up at the Judean sky, […]