FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT

 

           An Advent Pantoum

We treasure light lessened in seasons of sleep,
an axis tilting toward beginning,
“and darkness was on the face of the deep”,
light candles on a wreath, imagining.

An axis tilting toward beginning,
restart anew from the first and best resource,
light candles on a wreath imagining
all that is and was and will be in due course.

Restart anew from the first and best resource,
the raw material from which God made
all that is and was and will be in due course,
the dark that was all before it was shade.

The raw material from which God made
earth and sky and sea and a precious Son,
the dark that was all, before it was shade,
now know in the flicker of stars set to stun.

Earth and sky and sea and a precious Son,
we have need of this, this stuff of creation,
now know in the flicker of stars set to stun,
guide us past our fear of last devastation.

Set four wicks ablaze in anticipation,
“and darkness was on the face of the deep”,
study the ways of holy incubation.
We treasure light lessons, in seasons still, steep.

(Marthe G. Walsh)

Collect - Fourth Sunday in Advent

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Many thanks to Marthe for permission to use her pantoum.