First Coming
Best known for her young adult fiction such as A Wrinkle in Time
I love the way it portrays God as not willing to wait until we were ready, but instead rushing to meet us in love, not unlike the prodigal father and so many other great characters in the Bible. And I love the way it invites us to make bold with our songs of thanksgiving, praise, and witness. If we wait until all is ready, we will wait forever. Now is the time to sing, now the time to rejoice, now the time to reach out in love.
Blessed Christmas!
First Coming
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait
till hearts were pure. In joy he came
to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Madeleine L’Engle, from The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle
Note: 1) Thanks to Sarah Anderson for sending this along!
2) Post image: Gerard (Gerrit) van Honthorst (1590-1656), “Adoration of the Children” (1620), Uffizi Gallery, Florence. Italy
I love that poem and used it as the centre of this year’s Christmas Eve sermon/meditation.