Bonus Poem: Christmas Exile

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Dürer, Albrecht: Flight into Egypt (1494-1497)
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden, Germany)

Christmas Exile   It didn’t take a dream to start my Christmas morning exile. “Whose Covid test is this?” my pregnant daughter called  in alarm from the other room.  “It’s mine,” I answered.  “You’re positive,” she said.  Thus began immediate self-banishment to the basement bedroom, while FaceTime visions of sugarplums, package unwrapping, laughter, thanks,  and ubiquitous hugs made my exile at least a little better  than it might have been, and with people leaving food and gifts at the top of the stairs, and all,  certainly less of a burden  than the one faced by that first family,  who had to dodge not Covid but Herod, going into exile without benefit of i-Pad to keep up with the family back home, and after that next dream, dodging the next variant, Archelaus.   Thus, Christmas never comes with perfection, but in the midst of the threat of death, in worry for those we love, in the ways we adapt for another’s sake, and in the sure and certain hope in that baby, and what he still brings, with healing in his wings.    Scott L. Barton   (For other poems on First Sunday after Christmas Day (A)—Isaiah 63:7–9 and Matthew 2:12–23, please see   First Sunday after Christmas Day (A))

Bonus Poem: The Child

This is the fifth of five new poems for Advent, 2022.

For poems for Christmas Eve/Nativity of Our Lord, please see:

Christmas Eve, Nativity of Our Lord (A, B, C)—Isaiah 9:2–7; Luke 2:1–20

Sir Edward Burne-Jones: The Star of Bethlehem, 1887-1891

Birmingham Museums Trust

https://unsplash.com/photos/Y_XS34BFX00

working preacher

The Child

 

Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” (Matthew 1b-2a)

 

How Odd

 

How odd, they came to worship a child,

How odd, that someone so meek and so mild

Would gain the attention of the wise.

 

How odd, we come to him this night,

How odd, no matter our power or might

To change the world, or even our lives.

 

Perhaps the children are the key

—Those who from fear and violence flee—

To help us finally be humane.

 

For when our hearts by love are stirred

And lines ’twixt us and others are blurred,

We’ll come to this odd new Child again.

 

Scott L. Barton

Bonus Poem: Emmanuel

 

Jesus MAFA: Virgin and Child

This is the fourth of five new poems for Advent, 2022.

For poems for Advent 4, Year A, please see Fourth Sunday of Advent (A)

 

Emmanuel

 

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

 

Wee Word

 

When we’re at a loss, we look for a savior,

Someone to get us out of a mess,

A mess which has made us all, in a word, desperate.

The desperation addressed by Isaiah,

The impending loss of nationhood,

Came in one word, Emmanuel, a child to be born.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say.

But God with us, with faith, hope, and love,

Still fells all that would defeat us with just one wee word.

Scott L. Barton

Bonus Poem: Herod

This is the third of five new poems for Advent, 2022.

For poems for Advent 3, Year A, please see Year A, Third Sunday of Advent

The three Magi before Herod, France, early 15th century. Musée de Cluny/Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris.

Herod

 

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  (Matthew 2:1-4)

 

Heartbreak

 

All megalomaniacs have fear

They’ll be dethroned, from far, or near;

Thus, nothing stops them from their ends,

Including children, whom they’ll rend

From life and parents, by all means

Necessary! Thus it still seems

That holding power for its sake

Can only end in great heartbreak.

 

 

Scott L. Barton

Bonus Poem: Joseph

This is the second of five new poems I'll post each week through Advent. 

For poems for Advent 2, Year A, please see Year A, Second Sunday of Advent

 

 

La Tour, Georges du Mesnil de (1593-1652): The Angel Visiting Joseph in a Dream 

Musée d'Arts de Nantes

"Her husband, Joseph, 

being a righteous man . . . ."

 

Saving Grace

 

The Bible, once again, dares redefine

The notion “righteous” as much more divine

Than oft we make it when we think of laws

All kept, producing someone lacking flaws.

For Joseph’s righteousness stems from his will

To do a gracious thing—and thus fulfill

The law his son would later say is best,

The law of love, by which we all are blessed.

 

And how it blessed him! For he had this dream

That told him that no matter who it seemed

The father of this child-to-be had been—

Abusive soldier? Or perhaps some friend?—

There was another possibility

To lead both them—and all the world—to see

That Jesus, meaning “Yahweh saves,” still shows

That love for all is how God’s spirit grows.

Scott L. Barton

 

The poem has recently been published in The Presbyterian Outlook’s Attending to Advent: Poetry, Prose and Prayer.

 

Her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:19-21)

 

Bonus Poem: Mary

This is the first of five new poems I'll post each week through Advent. 

For poems for Advent 1, Year A, please see Year A, First Sunday of Advent

Henry Ossawa Tanner: The Annunciation (1898)

Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

“She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”  (Matthew 1:18)
 

Found by whom, one wonders.
Mary, of course.
And certainly Joseph.
“I’m pregnant, my love,” she whispers.
But found by who else?
Is it anyone else’s business
That she’s pregnant?
How deeply personal is pregnancy,
With all its fear and joy,
Its worry and its hope.
From this word, “was found”—εὑρέθη—
Comes “Eureka!” “I’ve found it!”
And this, that we might cry today,
“I have found him!”
Is still the Holy Spirit’s business.
 

Scott L. Barton

Christ the King/Reign of Christ (C), November 20, 2022—Jeremiah 23:1–6; Psalm 46; Luke 23:33–43

 

John Singer Sargent: Tyrolese Crucifix 1914 

Metropolitan Museum, New York

 

Jeremiah 23:1–6

 

Not On Our Own

I guess it’s not so unique

That a shepherd will scatter

Those entrusted to his care.

Sometimes the sheep, unable

To know the things best for them,

Will find themselves in despair.

 

That’s the time when they might hear

A faithful prophet proclaim:

Awaken from the nightmare!

 

One comes not for self, who’s called

“The LORD is our righteousness,”

To change our hearts—everywhere.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

+  +  +

Psalm 46 

(with a closing reference to Romans 8:28)

God is our refuge

    and God is our strength,

And people these days

    o'er the breadth and the length

Of the Philippines know

    —more than most—what this means;

For relief do they cry,

    when relief is unseen;

Oh! What destruction

    as far as the eye

And the news can perceive,

    so with tears we all cry;

But though earth and sea change,

    —and the mountains all shake,

Our God is the one

    who will never forsake;

It's a long ways away

   —to the end of the earth!—

But the one who breaks bows,

    Breaks despair, so rebirth

Will occur! So now know,

    in our comfort,

        though faith may be thin,

That God with us conspires

    for our kith and our kin.

 

Scott L. Barton

(Written after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, but applicable in other circumstances, such as recent Caribbean-Florida hurricanes.)

 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the

mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its

tumult. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy

habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help

it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his

voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has

brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and

shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I

am exalted in the earth.”

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

+ + +

 

Luke 23:33–43

Hymn: As the Church’s Year Is Done

(Tune: VESPER HYMN (Now on Land and Sea Descending)

Alternative tunes: Hymns with 8.7.8.7 D meter, such as  GENEVA (Sovereign Lord of All Creation; Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory)(especially nice because of the mid-way change from minor to major); BEACH SPRING (God Whose Giving Knows No Ending), EBENEZER (Come, O Spirit; Once to Every One and Nation), HYFRYDOL (unless you plan to sing Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus to this tune soon), HYMN TO JOY (Joyful Joyful, We Adore Thee), IN BABILONE (There's a Wideness in God's Mercy), NETTLETON (Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing), or WEISSE FLAGGEN (When the Morning Stars Together).

 

As the Church's Year Is Done

 

1. Save the Sundays after Christmas,

Christ the King's* the only one

With his name or title noted,

As the church's year is done—

 

Though it doesn't change him any,

Doesn't sudd'nly make him king;

Not by churchwide nomenclature

Do his praises now we sing.

 

2. This day is the culmination

Of the message we have heard,

Starting with the proclamation

Christ would come in flesh, from Word.

 

Yes, he came, revealed, was baptized,

Then the twelve to him he called,

Suffered, with his death approaching,

Demonstrated giving all.

 

3. After death, a resurrection,

Each week here we celebrate!

Shouts of joy, what acclamation,

Love o’ercame death’s heavy weight!

 

Then disciples, still unsure of

How the future would unfold,

Prodded by the Spirit outward,

Learned that grace for all be told.

 

4. Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Is the basis of our claim

Through our ordinary time, the

Life of Christ is still our aim.

 

If we choose, if we can own him

As the one who in us reigns,

That's the day in which we crown him,

Ruler, who our lives sustains.

 

(*or Reign of Christ's) 

 

Scott L. Barton

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 28 (C), November 13, 2022— Isaiah 65:17–25; 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13; Luke 21:5–19

 Isaiah 65:17–25

Lion and Lamb

 

Every Advent my wife and I send

A lion and lamb Christmas card;

We carry on the tradition

of my Reformation professor,

Charlie Nielsen, and his wife, Eloïse;

It's nice to have a theme,

But it's not always easy.

Sometimes I almost despair

of finding the card with

The right amount of preposterousness!

I don't want it to be "religious;"

Surprise, even comedy, is the key.

For isn't this what we mean by

God's vision for the world?

Unexpected?  Brand new?

And then, as in answer to prayer,

A new lion and lamb appears,

A new take on an old theme, and

A witness, we hope,

To those who will receive it,

So that they might be glad,

And rejoice forever

In what God is creating

—and be a delight, too!

 

Scott L. Barton

 

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

 

+ + +

 

2 Thessalonians 3:6–13

 

For the Love of All

 

It’s easy to imagine

This text misused without compassion

For people who might have no jobs,

And might be labeled, then, as “slobs.”

 

But Paul’s demanding attitude

Was aimed at those who misconstrued

The certain coming of the Lord

With working not for room or board.

 

Thus, Paul condemns religious talk

Which at the common good would balk

Because one thinks one’s faith demands

Ignoring common life at hand.

 

Though Christ may give you great delight,

Be weary not in doing right.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

 

+  +  +

 

Luke 21:5–19

 

Election Day

 

"By your endurance you will save your souls."

This is a message that has different goals

Than if one thinks some strong and outside force,

Some revolution, soon will change the course

Of history. Not anger, shouts or hate

Can ever bring God's kingdom, make us great;

No, just the opposite: Forsaking fear,

And giving hope—and blood—and sweat—and tears.

It's giving of yourself, with constancy

For neighbor, yes, whoever that might be—

All this is what it means to follow he

Who calmed the wind with love and stilled the sea.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.