A People on a Journey

They were a people

On a journey.

A people journeying

Home.

A people on their way

Back.

Back to where

They began.

Back to

The rooms and the streets and the synagogues

Where years ago they

Took root and stretched to the light.

They burst forth in quiet glory and delicate determination.

The harshness of the elements around them was matched only by

Their small ferocity.

The winds blew,

And they grew,

And over time,

They found that they covered a lot more ground than they used to.

That brings them to

Now.

They have been called back.

They are a people under opression journeying

Home.

For some,

The journey is a natural leaning towards the warmth of a sun.

For others,

It is painful, ridden with memories of roots desperate for water,

Where there was none to be found.

Dutifully,

They travel

Back to themselves.

It is in this time

Of aching feet and sweat and grime,

This time of

An entire people haunted by themselves

As they remember all the thousands of moments of

Life and of

Death

That have composed their days.

This desperate time of

Their own shadows circling hungrily ‘round them

As they walk on and on.

It is in this time

Of chaotic and inconvenient upheaval,

This time of people coming

Face-to-face

With themselves and saying,

“This is who I am.

This is where I come from.

I am broken, and

I am beautiful, too,”

That

God comes especially near.

He sends a tender shoot to

Burst forth in quiet glory and delicate determination.

A tender shoot that will grow to be

The Greenest, the Growingest, the most Vital

Of Vines,

The thread that winds its way through all our stories,

All our moments of life and of death, both

Yours and mine.

The tendril that patiently grows its way through our souls and,

If we invite it to,

Binds up our broken and

Magnifies our beauty.

This is

The work of the manger.

Love coming near and then

Growing

Growing

Growing,

Until it is too much.

Too much to be contained by body or grave.

An explosion of Love has wrapped us,

And we are held warmly within.

There are

many words

That could be used to describe this

crazy year.

The word that comes

To my mind is

Divisive.

We have experienced separation this year-

In physical and emotional ways.

Differences of opinion about the events of 2020

Within families and churches and friends

Have created empty spaces of their own.

Christmas can be a reminder that Love draws near, rather than turning away.

A reminder that

We ALL carry brokenness and

We ALL carry beauty and that

despite all our differences,

We ALL are in need of the same thing-

Love from God, infinitely larger and more beautiful than we are, and

Love from each other.