Pt. I – Anticipation
Behold! This is the season of waiting. We mirror
And remember the shadows and hints of prophetic words
That were actualized in the birth and life of Christ
These weeks of waiting are reminders of the preparations
And promises that the Lord gives us in participating
In the narrative of Christ and in celebration of this season
As we are and were in deserts, we with the life of the Christ,
Are given gladness. In barren lands our thirst will be satisfied.
Our joy will be rectified, and it will be for one reason.
With the life of one child we are reminded
Of the life that Christ gave us by his death
And the grace he had for us in his last breath
Where dryness and dust have devoured greenness and life
The Lord promises us rejuvenation, the return of Noah’s dove
He promises to transform our desert-like lives into joyful songs
Imagine for a moment the most splendid and majestic place you know of.
Mountains, valleys, seas, rivers, and prairies. Grandeur and glory.
In these images our joy is founded, made alive.
He promises our dry places will be replenished into this joy.
Not just for a moment or a season, but for eternity
And all this from one girl’s unexpected holy maternity!
Pt. II – Rejuvenation
The prophetic words of Isaiah live now,
Through the power Holy Spirit it be
Infused with rich promises no one can plunder
The blind will no longer be called blind,
For their eyes will be opened and made to see!
That at last they may behold divine wonder.
The lame will no longer be called lame
For they will leap like the deer of the field
And dance on their feet to the sound of thunder
The mute will no longer be called mute
For they will burst out into holy song
That in the darkest night will wake those who slumber
In these promises of rejuvenation we find something hidden in the ashes
Rejuvenation – juv as in the jovial, is a RE – turning of joy
The re-imagination of joy.
The recreation of joy
The Revitalization of joy
The Reviving of joy
The re-trying of Joy
It is the promise of the return of Joy
And we are called to it.
Pt. III – The Call [of Nations]
If you grant me the possibility to encourage you
that this time-of-memory is an opportunity,
To remember truthfully that this is our reality
For now, for here, for every moment near
This is not an ancient story
It is one of now that is reachable and livable,
It is one of present glory
That we are meant to embrace, retrace, and continue to relive
In every season to fullness and completion
As we wait to remember
the day of his birth,
we remember too that
He has been born
He has died in scorn
And rose again on the third morn,
The temple curtain by holy hands torn,
Then ascending to heaven by angel’s horn
We wait again, for the joyous return
Once waiting for a child’s birth,
Our waiting has a new mirth
We no longer just wait, but live in redemption
For our sins we receive, from death, an exemption
Heaven invades us vividly
The earth groans to imitate its maker
And we are waiting, but never idly
We anticipate, preporate and preponderate.
celebrate
And as such, invigorate
So, I pray that any of my inabilities
to see, to walk, to speak, to hear
Be redeemed, as it has been promised
May I call out in my deserts,
And in the deserts of this world,
For the rushing water that is the Holy Spirit
To rejuvenate the places that dry me out
The places that are scorched and spurned
The homes where wild darkness shouts
May together we call out for that redemption,
that is oh so sweet and good
For You have promised with joy and expect it we should
Pt IV: Celebration
Papa, I wear your joy like crown
For I am a royal child, your own
Anticipation, it is promised,
and in this season and beyond
I will celebrate and shout
because all of my sorrow, worries and waries
and my places of desert have given away to joy.
Sweet, and delicate
hardy and messy
Dangerous and desperately necessary,
I wait and participate, in joy, for you —- Amen.
