Third Friday of Advent

Shall not Lebanon in a very little while become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest? On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the tyrant shall be no more, and the scoffer shall cease to be; all those alert to do evil shall be cut off- those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit, who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate, and without grounds deny justice to the one in the right. (Isaiah 29:17-21)

       these days

now come the days

when the bleak
midwinter
of our lives
blossoms with
wonder and peace;

when those who have
turned a deaf
ear to the
sounds of the broken,
will hear their
songs of
hope,
and become their
outspoken
advocates;

when those who see only
themselves
will look in the mirror,
and see the little
the last, the lost,
the least
gathered around them,
and turning, will embrace
them as family;

when the scoffers will
read the Story,
when the mockers will
write new carols,
when all will
struggle for justice.

how can this be?

because
on that day,

you came.

© 2012 Thom M. Shuman