Monday, December 17, 2007

Iona Community: Cloth for the Cradle


When the world was dark
and the city was quiet,
you came.

You crept in beside us.

And no one knew.
Only the few who dared to believe
that God might do something different.

Will you do the same this Christmas, Lord?

Will you come into the darkness of tonight's world;
not the friendly darkness
as when sleep rescues us from tiredness,
but the fearful darkness,in which people have stopped believing
that war will end
or that food will come
or that a government will change
or that the Church cares?

Will you come into that darkness
and do something different
to save your people from death and despair?

Will you come into the quietness of this town,
not the friendly quietness
as when lovers hold hands,
but the fearful silence when the phone has not rung
the letter has not come,
the friendly voice no longer speaks,
the doctor's face says it all?

Will you come into that darkness,
and do something different,
not to distract, but to embrace your people?

And will you come into the dark corners
and the quiet places of our lives?

We ask this not because we are guilt-ridden
or want to be,
but because the fullness our lives long for
depends upon us being as open and vulnerable to you
as you were to us,when you came,
wearing no more than diapers,
and trusting human hands
to hold their maker.

Will you come into our lives,
if we open them to you
and do something different?

When the world was dark
and the city was quiet
you came.

You crept in beside us.

Do the same this Christmas, Lord.

Do the same this Christmas.

Amen.
*******************
Read at our Lessons and Carols Sunday night.
Image from the Vatican Collection.

7 comments:

Jan said...

So beautiful. Thank you. Did you write it?

Gannet Girl said...

It's from Iona.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Wow! I loved that! I'm going to use it at our Chritmas Eve candlelight service.

Diane M. Roth said...

I think I have this collection... love the piece you chose.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. I'm glad you made it to Lessons & Carols despite the blizzard.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, and I'm not even Christian!

Anonymous said...

Amen. In French instead of amen, we sometimes say: "Ainsi soit-il" which means "thus it will be".

Exquisite poem.

Mich