thine advent here

Yes it's that season again. And my Christmas gift to you all is going to be the kind that keeps on giving (which usually means cheap, as is the case here). Be looking for more frequent posts in the near future as I expose you to some of the better poetry for the season that I have come across. Today's is from A Widening Light: Poems of the Incarnation, a collection of poems edited by Luci Shaw. This one is by Madeleine L'Engle:

Like Every Newborn

The Lord is King, and hath put on glorious
apparel; the Lord hath put on his apparel,
and girded himself with strength.
Psalm 93:1

Like every newborn, he has come from very far.
His eyes are closed against the brilliance of the star.
Sp glorious is he, he goes to this immoderate length
To show his love for us, discarding power and strength.
Girded for war, humility his mighty dress,
He moves into battle wholly weaponless.

When I read this one this morning I was reminded of what we see in Psalm 46, the part before the part that everyone quotes.  "Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.  He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.  Be still..."  

It seems strange that the desolation the Lord brings is utter peace on earth.  Yes, he comes to wage a war, but it is not a war fought as we fight them (which seems always and only to bring more fighting) but it is war he waged by becoming a baby, but walking humbly on earth, and by letting us nail him to a tree.  This what we celebrate every Christmas season.

Incidentally, if you are not listening to the Sufjan Stevens Christmas album right now...you are probably sinning.