Sunday, December 18, 2022

Signs and Guides - Christmas Poem 2008


Ancestral wandering in the dark

Long strange journey of desert flight

Looking for signs of presence and promise

Guided by pillars of smoke and fire

Struggling to trust.


Ancestral pleading in the kingdoms

Leaders corrupt and cruel, Torah abandoned

Looking for signs of caring reign

Guided by renewal of Davidic covenant

Struggling to trust.


Ancestral cries from a foreign land

Separated from place, tradition, and holy mountain

Looking for signs of divine justice

Guided by prophetic judgment and faith

Struggling to trust.


Ancestral prayers of deliverance again

Poor and blind, oppressed and prisoner - waiting

Looking for signs of messianic relief

Guided by a man and woman in census pilgrimage

Yearning to trust


Angels and stars

rolled text and Holy Spirit

guide us to the stall

where holy and humanity join in newborn flesh

Testament of Divine trust.


Signs of Emmanuel, God with us

From when holy breath gave way to primordial life

From when barrenness gave way to miraculous birth

From when unlikely characters gave way to amazing deed

From when angels announced a new way.

Always struggling to grow in trust.


Signs of Emmanuel, God with us

Born this night in humble circumstance

Born this night to a world in turmoil

Born this night to proclaim death to evil

and life over death

If we but trust.


Signs of Emmanuel, God with us

Cries from scriptural past

emanate from the depths of technology-weary souls.

Modern wanderers cling to

fantastic stories, old and unbelievable.

Desperate to trust.


Signs of Emmanuel, God with us

pleading for hope

crying for presence

praying for promise

found in a human God

Who trusts humanity to do holy work.


Guided by mystical meaning

down a star-lit road to Bethlehem

into the chilly depths of baptismal waters

standing steadfast by a pain-filled cross

astonished at a joyously empty tomb

Knowing that trust is the only way.


On this night a Savior is born

on this night our faith is given new life

on this night we wait not for sparkling gifts

but for Signs of Emmanuel, God with us

Trusting in the One who trusted human arms 

to wrap the Christ and us in everlasting love.


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