Advent 2011

Twelfth Night

No night could be darker than this night
No cold, so cold,
As the blood snaps like a wire,
and the heart sap stills,
and the year seems defeated.

Never again, it seems will green things run,
or sky birds fly
or the grass exhale its humming breath
powdered with Pimpernels,
from this dark lung of winter.

Yet here are lessons for the final mile
of pilgrim kings,
the mile still left when all have reached
their tether's end: that mile
where the child lies hid.

For see, beneath the hand, the earth already
warms and glows;
for men with shepherd's eyes, there are
signs in the dark, the turning stars,
the lamb's returning time.

Out of this utter death he's born again,
his birth, our saviour;
from terror's equinox he climbs and grows,
drawing his finger's light across our blood
the son of heaven and the son of God.


This dramatic Christmas poem by Laurie Lee (Lawrence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee) is one of my favorites of the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany cycle. In 1968, Samuel Barber composed music for it which adds depth to the poem's nuances. Many years ago, when I attended Pacific Lutheran University, it was the first piece sung by the Choir of the West in the Christmas concert. In my mind, it rivals Barber's setting of the Agnus Dei, the choral setting of his Adagio for Strings. (both Twelfth Night and Agnus Dei can be found on YouTube).
In a way that I have never been able, Laurie Lee gets to the heart of the matter. He touches the often profound depression that comes to us as the Winter solstice draws near; as the earth seems to be in the final throes of death, and our last energy is sapped. Too much, as we prepare for Christmas, our spiritual energy is dissipated by the weight of the world, the high expectations we set for ourselves and those that are imposed upon us by the powers and principalities. Too many in these northern climbs, experience the loss of any sense of life as the sunlight dims and the earth grows cold, and the depression is compounded by a season that seems to demand jocularity. I wonder at times, how to get past the expectations and the depression, to discover the deeper meaning of what is unfolding before us.
In the ancient church, the Third Sunday of Advent, was known as Gaudete Sunday. The Sunday gets it's name and theme from the Latin Gaudete in Domino Semper (Rejoice in the Lord always [Philippians 4:4ff]). While the church has moved away from the penitential nature of Advent to a theme of preparation, the texts and the day are still infused with joy. It is the recovery of true joy that will end the dissipation and much of the depression associated with this season, and the time of year. Here is the thing. In order for us to recover the joy, we have to change our expections; we need to rediscover "that mile where the child lies hid." For, most certainly, the child is often hidden behind a myriad of facades that have usurped and twisted the joy we should experience, into something grotesque and indistinguishable. Let's face it, when someone decides that using pepper spray on other Christmas shoppers to keep them away from their hoard is appropriate, something has gone terribly wrong.
So we need to discern where our joy is truly going to be found. Perhaps Laurie Lee has it exactly right; it is when we reach "our tether's end", when we are finally overwhelmed with demands, expectations, depression, and anxiety that we at last begin to look for "signs in the dark, the turning stars," that signal new birth. Sometimes it simply seems that it is part of human nature to wait until darkness is deepest before we begin searching for light.
I hope that all of us, can, during this Advent season find the time to contemplate what "the lamb's returning time" means for us. To each, it is perhaps something different, yet I believe there are meanings that are shared by all. Out of all these, we will find the joy that unites us, heals our common humanity and makes us whole. And, discovering the oft obscured vision of the son of heaven, we will have something that is worthy of being received and given.

Christmas Blessings to all,

Pastor Boehringer