First Sunday of Advent - C

Please read 1st Thessalonians 3:9-13

when our faith

has faded away

until we cannot

find it with a

magnifying glass:

come,

to dot the i

with a great dollop

of grace,

to cross the t

with the broad stroke

of incarnation;

when the gauge

of our love

has dipped below

E

and our meager lives

cannot produce another

drop:

come,

to push us to

the Spirit's station

where we will be filled

to overflowing;

when our friends

have dropped us off

at the 'returns only' counter,

where we reach out

in hope only to find

no one will take our hand:

come,

to surround us with

grumps and grannies,

prophets and punks,

whiners and wise ones,

your family here and now.

come,

o come,

Immanuel!

(c) 2009 Thom M. Shuman