Third Friday of Advent

Please read Luke 2:46-55

stuck in the middle

of the paper this morning,

the slicks announce

another black friday sale

(the third this shopping

season, i think, but

who knows),

while the front page tells

of a single father searching

for coats to protect his kids

from poverty's chill;

the tour buses are packed

taking folks from the visitor's

center right up to the very

edge

of that grand canyon

which pushes the have-a-lots

and the have-nots

further and further

from one another;

more children die each day

from starvation

than from any act of

terrorism,

but we continue to gorge

ourselves at fear's table,

piling more and more

security on our plates;

so come,

Mary's Son,

come

using your mother's song

to transform our lives,

as surely as it did yours.

(c) 2009 Thom M. Shuman