Fourth Sunday of Advent

Read Isaiah 11:1-16; John 5:30-47

        bookies

we flip through the pages,
    scanning rapidly down
                    each column,
        thinking we might find
            that (capital A)nswer
   solving every problem;
                failing that,
    we turn the book upside
            down, shaking it
        back and forth, in hopes
    that the gift certificate
                for eternal life,
            the lost family deed
        to heaven,
    any truth at all
            might slip out of
            it's hiding place,
        landing at our feet.

but Truth
    has taken Jesse's branch,
            and shaped a broom
        to sweep up all
                our troubles and afflictions,
            and toss them into the
    dustbin,
                to clear a way home;
        Truth has whittled a pole from
                    the root we are always
                    tripping over,
            hanging his flag of justice
        and reconciliation on it,
    waving it high over his head,
                so we can follow;
        Truth has put away the
                        book
in order to
            live it.

© 2010  Thom M. Shuman