Turn Back the Clocks

Our Advents and our Christmases

have all gone wrong:

The slaughter of the innocents

plays all year long.



But they were fine just days ago—

Turn back the hours

to when the kings came, solemn, slow,

and all bowed down.



The soldiers will lay down their arms

at Herod's feet;

the mothers waked in their alarms

go back to sleep.



The children who laid down for aye

will wake at dusk,

and nothing trouble Herod's mind—

Turn back the clocks



to when the earth and heaven met

and hung there, poised.

Silent we came and bowed our heads

and wept for joy.



Stop the clocks there—let this be all—

Days, go no more.

How can we bear what must befall

if we go forward?

Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Massacre of the Innocents – qgGZ6pq1mTaabw at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21984073

And As We Slept

For Christmas, but also the end of Advent, to the tune FINLANDIA:

And as we slept, the sky awoke with angels;

and as we dreamed, a new world came to be.

A light shone out through clouds of death and danger,

a brand-new star to show what none had seen:

the king of kings laid helpless in a manger,

the lord of lords a gentle prince of peace.



And only they who kept the midnight vigil,

who stayed awake in weeping or at watch,

beheld the light, the new king's sign and sigil,

though what it meant their human hearts knew not—

that David's son was earth and heaven bridging—

'til angels sang that they could look on God.



And off they ran to offer up their worship,

or took the road, led onward by that star,

and fast or slow, their driving on was urgent,

for now the light shone brightly in their hearts

to show new paths, to lead them in their searching,

and bring them still in safety through the dark.



And when we wake, that light will still be shining

to draw us on, right to the manger side.

Wake us, O Lord, to see your world arriving;

awake our hearts, enkindled by your light.

Open our eyes to see you here beside us,

and keep us all forever in that sight.

Annunciation to the shepherds By Rembrandt – http://www.facebook.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50707534

Agnus Dei

In the deeps of night,

a lamb is born

for the winds to bite—

Have mercy, Lord!

But he nestles in

his mother's fleece

as the stars look on—

O, grant us peace!



Then the sky is split;

a light breaks forth,

and the flock retreats.

Have mercy, Lord!

But the mother stays;

the lambkin sleeps

though it's bright as day—

O, grant us peace!



And a music sounds

like glory's horn.

Every fear it drowns—

Have mercy, Lord!

Off the shepherds run,

strange sights to see,

but the lamb sleeps on—

O, grant us peace!



For the mother knows

how hope is shorn

in the midst of cold—

Have mercy, Lord!

How the culled are torn

and the ewes weep—

Have mercy, Lord,

and grant us peace!

Agnus Dei c. 1635–1640, by Francisco de Zurbarán, Prado MuseumBy Unknown author – http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/agnus-dei-the-lamb-of-god/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=160338

Comfort

Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 40:1-5

We dwell within a shadow here

beneath the wings of death

and feel it ever drawing near,

as close as every breath.



Yet do we hear a voice cry out,

“Take comfort, says your God!”

Come, then, into this fear and doubt;

give comfort to our hearts.



For we have seen the mountains fall

and crumble to the dust,

and wondered if you hear us call,

if you will come to us.



We've seen the valleys quake and split

and thrust into the sky.

And does it move you where you sit?

And do you hear us cry?



Then why do you stay so far off?

Why do you stand apart,

not tear the heavens with the earth

and come to us, O God?



But see! A light begins to pierce

the cloud that covers us.

And can it be that hope draws near,

that comfort comes to us?

The Creation of Light by Gustave Doré – Bible by Doré, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=298147

Half-Light

The lightening sky before the dawn,

the gray that tells us morning comes,

the paling east whose stars are gone,

the flaming clouds that hold the sun:



So creeping, as the old earth turns,

reveals a new world to our eyes.

The stars fade out; a great light burns:

We see the sun of justice rise.



But first, the half-light heralding,

to run before the break of dawn.

Ere stars wink out to greet their king,

this prophesies, as sure as John,



of stars that fall before the sun

and dying embers lifted high,

rekindled by the burning one,

while brightest gutter out and die.



And all the mornings long foretold

shall rise as one and still be dim,

and all the prophecies of old

shall be fulfilled at last in Him.



O Mary, glimmer of Christ's light,

your shining was his shining first.

May he make us, as you, shine bright

when he fills all the waiting earth.

This picture shows the sunrise at its best and it was taken at 5am at dawn and you can see how the lighting rolls apart in this picture As you can see the house and the trees shown in the picture had the shadow to cover them in black too it was taken on 5-3-2019 By Morjana Jalal – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81516889

Fields

For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
Isaiah 2:1-5

Give us the strength to bend our swords,

to set the iron in the forge

and let it soften, melting down

to serve at last the barren ground.



The fields we trampled into mud

mixed with the spilling rain of blood,

oh, let us turn and plow instead,

that broken men may break the bread.



All summer, let the weeping fall

to nurture green shoots growing tall

and heal what we had once despoiled,

so to renew the weary soil.



And when at last the harvest comes

let trumpets sound—but not the drums,

and silent stay the rusted guns—

so may on earth thy will be done.



Our bows and arrows, spears and knives

become the sickles and the scythes

that gather, as the fields come ripe,

the firstfruits of the seed that died.



And when at last we see your light,

oh, may you meet us doing right,

not wasting what was sacrificed

but tending to your fields, O Christ.

Study of a man pushing a plow By Félicien Rops – This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60848007

Filled

From height to depth his mercy stretched;

from east to west, forgiveness etched.



The Ancient One spins moon and sun—

All spent and done is new begun.



All tired and worn shall be reborn,

with all before shall greet the morn.



And all who weep or vigil keep

shall wake bonedeep, no more to sleep.



For then, like dew, Christ comes anew;

if weep you do, he weeps with you.



The one who dies beneath his skies

dies with the Christ, with him to rise.



Then break, my heart; fall well apart

to find your start in heaven's dart.



And wake new-gilt when weeping's stilled,

the earth he built with mercy filled.



All depth and height, east, west, past sight,

all filled with light, all filled with Christ.

G CIEL 1_025 Nicole Oresme, *Le livre du Ciel et du Monde,* Paris, BnF, Manuscrits, Fr. 565, f. 69 (1377) By Original art, Nicole Oresme (artist unknown); Scan, Bibliothèque National de France; Current file, SteveMcCluskey – This file has been extracted from another file, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1602683

Watch

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.
It is like a man traveling abroad.
He leaves home and places his servants in charge,
each with his own work,
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch, therefore;
you do not know when the lord of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, or at midnight,
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”
Mark 13:33-37

Awake my heart, O Lord,

for I have been asleep,

but now the night is creeping toward

the watch that I must keep.



And touch my weary eyes:

The sun has long gone down,

and I must wait a new star's rise,

outshining even dawn.



You, sun of justice, rose,

and oh! your day was bright!

You went as every evening goes;

now we wait out the night.



For day will come again

a shining, searing blaze:

the presence of the Great Amen,

light thrown on all our ways.



A day without an end,

a night without a dawn,

where day and night abide as friends

and all our fear is gone.



Then wake my heart, O Lord;

let me not miss that light 

but keep me ever yearning toward

your glory in the night.

Il Cristo Redentore By Melozzo da Forlì (attributed) – http://www.piosodaliziodeipiceni.it/img/24sede.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43654623

King

The king shall come when morning dawns,
a barefoot king uncrowned.
With all his pomp and glory gone,
he walks the dusty ground.

We wanted triumph over all,
a mighty king and strong!
But he is small as seeds are small;
his patience, though, is long.

A king to judge the wicked ones,
to vindicate the good:
He takes the evil we have done
and drowns it in his blood.

A king to conquer every foe—
his enemy is death!
And where he plants his flag, it grows!
Its base has pierced his breast.

Then, with the world beneath his feet
and when all heads are bowed,
he takes his lordship of all things
and gives it up to God.

The king shall come confound our ways,
his lasting peace to bring.
Lift hands and voices high in praise
of Christ, the barefoot king!

Christ in Majesty with the symbols of the Evangelists, stone relief, south portal, Benedictine monastery at Innichen, South Tyrol By ich – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2905170

Not Ready

You come when we're not ready
on ways we've not made straight:
We haven't cleared the temple
or opened wide the gate.
We have not stirred the embers,
and see! the hour is late.
O portals, lift your heads up:
The king of glory waits!

We were expecting heralds
and harbingers of war:
the armiesof our generals
advancing score on score.
Not this, so weak and tender,
so helpless on the straw.
Cry out the word, O sentries!
Grow higher, ancient doors!

For though we come but halfway
with feeble hands and knees
upon our crooked pathways,
you run our hopes to meet.
Both lower than the valleys
and higher than the peaks,
who were and are and shall be,
find us before we seek!

Cornelis Massijs – Arrival of the Holy Family in Bethlehem – WGA14256 – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15497722