In Dazzling Darkness

barnstormingblog

newyearsice
Deep midwinter, the dark center of the year,
Wake, O earth, awake,
Out of the hills a star appears,
Here lies the way for pilgrim kings,
Three magi on an ancient path,
Black hours begin their journeyings.

Their star has risen in our hearts,
Empty thrones, abandoning fears,
Out on the hills their journey starts,
In dazzling darkness God appears.
~Judith Bingham “Epiphany”

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…the scent of frankincense
and myrrh
arrives on the wind,
and I long
to breathe deeply,
to divine its trail.
But I know their uses
and cannot bring myself
to breathe deeply enough
to know
whether what comes
is the fragrant welcoming
of birth
or simply covers the stench of death.
These hands
coming toward me,
is it swaddling they carry
or shroud?
~Jan Richardson from Night Visions –searching the shadows of Advent and Christmas

birchgold

Unclench your fists

Hold out your hands.

Take mine.

Let us hold each other.

Thus is his Glory Manifest.
~Madeleine L’Engle “Epiphany”

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All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
~T.S. Eliot from “Journey of the Magi”

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The Christmas season is a wrap, put away for another year.
However, our hearts are not so easily boxed up and stored as the decorations and ornaments of the season.

Our troubles and concerns go on; our frailty a daily reality.
We can be distracted with holidays for a few weeks, but our time here slips away ever more quickly.

The Christmas story is not just about light and birth and joy to the world.
It is about how swaddling clothes became a shroud that wrapped Him tight.
There is not one without the other.

God came to be with us;
Delivered so He could deliver.
Planted on and in the earth.
Born so He could die in our place
To leave the linen strips behind, neatly folded.

Christmas:  an unwrapping that frees us forever.
Epiphany: the evidence the Seed has taken root in our hearts.

bakersteaming

 

 

7 thoughts on “In Dazzling Darkness”

  4. I greatly admire your talent and the beautiful landscapes in your world and am richer for the sharing of such wonderful lights and places. xo Happy New Year to you my friend

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  5. How grateful I am the seed was planted so long ago, deep within my soul, where the roots are long and strong. Thank you Emily for your beautiful post.

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  7. This lovely posting meshed together for me today in such thoughtful, inspiring ways:

    Emily – your observation that …’evidence of the Seed has taken root in our hearts…’
    Laura’s affirmation and gratitude that’ the Seed was indeed planted within her soul so long ago where its roots are long and strong…’
    Madeleine L’Engle’s admonition that we ‘unclench our fists’ and ‘hold out our [open] hands to Him,’ and that ‘we hold each other….’

    All this — from a newborn babe, Jesus, the Incarnate God, the Cosmic Christ of the Universe — all pure Gift to us..

    That we DO INDEED need to hold each other – in prayer, in thought, in our very souls, is imperative……

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