"Light in Church Pews, Advent 2020"
Durham, New Hampshire
WAIT NOW, O EMPTIED CHURCH
A Christmas Poem for 2020
“In gratitude for the remarkable CCD staff whose work and light
persist through this pandemic, and shine with glory and grace.”
Sudden vacancies, muted parlors, still hallways,
Silenced conversations, posted warnings on locked doors,
Now this timid temple, once teeming with little legs,
Once bustling with servant spirit and wisdom’s wit:
How do we sing Love’s song in this sad stillness?
This hollowed stable, this quiet cave
Shivers now with the first gusts of winter storms,
Aches with loneliness and unspoken prayers:
Hushed benches crying out for friend and pilgrim,
Epiphanies no one in the world can see.
Wait now, O emptied church, wait now
For Mother makes her way from the north,
Daughter of Nazareth, pregnant with God:
Across green Galilee, up and down Judah’s gentle hills,
Riding a donkey, seeking shelter in your heart.
Look for Her, watch for Her, this laboring prophet,
Traveling, searching, wincing, knocking on doors too busy
To open to refugees in the night, to pilgrims without papers;
See then with your salty tears, release these bolts,
Open every door, every dungeon, every gate and border.
Vacant hearts will see Her coming, empty homes this birth,
Mother lays down in a darkening cave, and all is well on earth.
