Descent

Down he came from up,

and in from out,

and here from there.

A long leap,

an incandescent fall

from magnificent

to naked, frail, small,

through space,

between stars,

into our chill night air,

shrunk, in infant grace,

to our damp, cramped

earthy place

among all

the shivering sheep.

And now, after all,

there he lies,

fast asleep.  


           Luci Shaw

Progress

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.
 

                                                                                                                    C.S. Lewis

Made Flesh

After the bright beam of hot annunciation

fused heaven with dark earth

his searing sharply-focused light

went out for a while

eclipsed in amniotic gloom:

his cool immensity of spendor

his universal grace

small-folded in a warm dim

female space-- 

the Word stern-sentenced

to be nine months dumb-- 

infinity walled in a womb

until the next enormity--the Mighty,

after submission to a woman's pains

helpless on a barn-bare floor

first-tasting bitter earth.

Now, I in him surrender

to the crush and cry of birth.

Because eternity 

was closeted in time

he is my open door

to forever.

From his imprisonment my freedoms grow,

find wings.

Part of his body, I transcend this flesh.

From his sweet silence my mouth sings.

Out of his dark I glow.

My life, as his,

slips through death's mesh,

time's bars,

joins hands with heaven,

speaks with stars.

                                    Luci Shaw

The Risk of Birth

This is no time for a child to be born,

With the earth betrayed by war & hate

And a nova lighting the sky to warn

That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,

In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;

Honour & truth were trampled by scorn--

Yet here did the Saviour make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?

The inn is full on the planet earth,

And by greed & pride the sky is torn--

Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

                            Madeleine L'Engle

Thought for Thanksgiving

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart."

                                                              Seneca

God's Mercy

There's a wideness in God's mercy

I cannot find in my own

And He keeps His fire burning

To melt this heart of stone

Keeps me aching with a yearning

Keeps me glad to have been caught

In the wreckless raging fury

That they call the love of God.

                                   Rich Mullins

The Quality of Mercy

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,

Upon the place beneath.

It is twice blessed.

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

It is mightiest in the mightiest,

It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

An attribute to awe and majesty.

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.

But mercy is above this sceptred sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself.

And earthly power dost become likest God's,

Where mercy seasons justice.

Therefore...

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That in the course of justice we all must see salvation,

We all do pray for mercy

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.

                                                               Excerpt from The Merchant of Venice,

                                                               William Shakespeare