ASK GREG

December 24, 2013

There are no more questions in the in-box.  The pastor and I will soon discuss whether this space on the parish blog-spot has run its course.  In the meantime, in lieu of a response to a question I offer the following steam-of-consciousness seasonal thoughts:

TWO FEASTS

Christmas Eve with Luke,

The Feast of the Nativity;

A Woman with child,

A man with faith

In the woman he has not known;

The woman trusts the God

Who sends her bittersweet tidings.

Shepherds hear voices in the air;

Singing, they said,

But the senses play tricks

On those who keep lonely watch

By night.

They make their way

To a rustic make-shift temple

Holding the divine infant

In the midst of barn-yard smells.

Christmas morning with John,

The Feast of the Incarnation

Heralding the Word made flesh;

No birth story this,

No story at all really,

But a proclamation

With just a touch Of Gnosis;

Theology on tap to

Please Platonic sensibilities

And confuse

Concrete mentalities.

Whichever feast we choose

It just doesn’t cut it

In the pantheon

Of ancient lore.

A proper God remains aloof

From the human condition

And affects a disinterested attitude

While scowling from

Olympian heights.

But if this God had not

Torn open the heavens

To come to us

In vulnerability,

Would we ever know

A love we can trust?