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
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.
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?