Never broken

Deep within the clay, and O my people

very deep within the wholly earthen

compound of our kind arrives of one clear,

star-illumined evening a spark igniting

once again the tinder of our lately 

banked noetic fire. She burns but she 

is not consumed. The dew lights gently,

suffusing the pure fleece. The wall comes down,

And -do you feel the pulse?- we all become

the kindled kindred of a King whose birth

thereafter bears to all a bright nativity.

-Scott Cairns

Comfort, comfort ye my people,
speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
comfort those who sit in darkness,
mourning 'neath their sorrow's load.
Speak ye to Jerusalem
of the peace that waits for them;
tell her that her sins I cover,
and her warfare now is over.

Make ye straight what long was crooked,
make the rougher places plain;
let your hearts be true and humble,
as befits his holy reign.
For the glory of the Lord
now o'er earth is shed abroad;
and all flesh shall see the token
that his word is never broken.

 

Redemption begins in the most hidden corners of the earth and this is a vital aspect of Advent because it means that nothing we do in faithful, obedient secret is hidden from God. Advent promises a God who sees, who is with us in every hidden moment, who will honor and redeem and heal and praise the faithfulness we have lived day by hidden day... May you know yourself seen, your own hidden faithfulness or yearning or grief, beheld and honored by the God who was himself hidden for love of us.  -Sarah Clarkson