Advent 4-C

      coming day

leaving the throne
in the hands of the
            cherubim,
      you choose
         to come
   and clean up
        the royal mess
      we have made
    of everything;

from the pinnacle of
              glory,
      you choose
         to come,
   peddling your
           words
       in
     the hollers and
           hills
         of our hearts;

stirring your tears
   with all your might until
         they are reduced to
             grace,
      you choose
         to come,
   partnering with the
           insignificant,
   honoring the
           unnotable,
   pickpocketing the
           opulaent
      to buy out the store
        for those lined
          around the block
    at the
       foodbank.

you choose
   to come
            even
     in these days.

(c) 2012 Thom M. Shuman

Advent 3-C

       come again?

if what
           the novelists portray,
        the moviemakers show,
           the radio hosts talk,
        the tv preachers yell
     is all true,
                    then why would
          i want you to
               return?  but

if you come
        so

      those thirsting for hope
           will find it gushing
              out of the taps,

   those cursed by the world
         will be embraced
              in your arms of love, 

      that the despair which overwhelms
                         so many
           will be gathered with the
                      chaff
           and used to warm the
                  homeless,

        those who have lived
                on the scraps
            we toss into the trash
              will be at the
                  head table
             of your feast,

   and every one, every last one
               of us
      will find our way
           home;

well then,
          i will wait,
   and while waiting,
          i will rejoice,
   and while rejoicing,
          i will make this
      great news
known.

(c) 2012 Thom M. Shuman

benedictus (Luke 1:68-79)

all it takes
          is a word
      (no - just a few letters)
   and we can begin to
        bandy about all
        sorts of things
     about this person
          or that,
        but gossips of
            grace -
   when is the last time
      anyone accused us
           of such
     behavior?

having feasted on bias
       until only the
                     core
   remains, we take the
     seeds and plant them
         as deep as we can
         in those who look
       up to us, so this
               fear
         will never face
         extinction,
      while the kernels
           of compassion
        remain in their
        original packaging,
   gathering dust on the shelves
                 of our
         souls.

while the experts
                and
      talkingheads continue
   to intimate that
         the cliff is drawing
              nearer
     and no one remembered
          to fix the
          brakes,

dare we
become
           rumormongers of
      hope
             that
   the beginning is just
         dawning?

(c) 2012 Thom M. Shuman