Advent Poems 2022 [love]

 

The last candle of Advent represents love. It represents the love of God which sent His Son to earth to save us; it represents Mary’s love for her newborn son; it represents the love that Jesus Christ has for each of us; love that saves, uplifts, and heals.

For this week, I chose the poem “Love (III)” by George Herbert. Herbert was an Anglican priest and a 17^th-century metaphysical English poet, whose writings mainly focused on religious devotion. I first read this poem in an English survey class in college, and the conversation between the speaker and God moved me. This poem centers on a conversation between the speaker and Love (which, in this case, represents Christ), and how the speaker feels unworthy of love, but Love gently reminds him that love is a gift, not earned or deserved.

George Herbert was a Christian poet, and reading the poem through a Christian lens increases my own understanding of the love of God. But, I think this poem can also be meaningful to all of us, regardless of religious or spiritual persuasion. For love is a gift. It is not a transaction, it is not a contest. It is powerful because it is a grace, something that is given and received freely, and not because we are necessarily worthy of it. But receiving love transforms us.

Love welcomes us to the table, tonight and every night. And tonight we welcome Love to the manger, and prepare our hearts to receive the holy gift. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

Love (III) by George Herbert

Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back

                              Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack

                              From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,

                              If I lacked any thing.

 

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:

                              Love said, You shall be he.

I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,

                              I cannot look on thee.

Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,

                              Who made the eyes but I?

 

Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame

                              Go where it doth deserve.

And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?

                              My dear, then I shall serve.

You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:

                              So I did sit and eat. 

Advent Poems 2022 [joy]

The candle for the third week of Advent represents joy, specifically the joy that the shepherds felt when they heard the news from the angels that the Savior of the World had been born. Having a candle represent joy reminds me that joy can come suddenly, that it can feel undeserved, but that it springs from love—love from others, love for others, love for the world we live in. This week, I am sharing a favorite poem by Li-Young Lee (who is, incidentally, one of my favorite contemporary poets). I don’t have any eloquent commentary on this poem; I think that it speaks for itself. But I hope that by reading it, you are reminded of the times where joy leads to joy leads to joy, and how the simple and large are intimately entwined. Don’t be afraid to embrace joy when it comes to you, even if you feel unworthy or scared. 

From Blossoms, by Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes

this brown paper bag of peaches

we bought from the boy

at the bend in the road where we turned toward

signs painted Peaches.

 

From laden boughs, from hands,

from sweet fellowship in the bins,

comes nectar at the roadside, succulent

peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,

comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.  

 

O, to take what we love inside,

To carry within us an orchard, to eat

not only the skin, but the shade,

not only the sugar, but the days, to hold

the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into

the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live

as if death were nowhere

in the background; from joy

to joy to joy, from wing to wing,

from blossom to blossom to

impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

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Advent Poems 2022 [peace]

Peace

This week’s Advent candle represents peace. In thinking of a poem I wanted to share this week, I kept coming back to a song, so I hope you will indulge me.

“Be Still” is a song by the band The Killers, and sung by their lead vocalist, Brandon Flowers. Over the past five years, “Be Still” has been a song I have turned to (or one which comes to mind), when I need a sense of grounding, calm, and peace.

This song has personal significance for me. The first year of my PhD program was incredibly hard, intellectually and emotionally. PhD programs in general are isolating experiences for a variety of reasons. One reason they are isolating is because PhD students are usually far away from home, but they are also isolating because they are so cerebral. You spend a lot of time living in your mind (often trying to justify your decision to pursue a PhD to yourself or fielding arguments from skeptics), and the people who remind you that you are more than a brain are often miles away.

During the first semester of my PhD program, especially, I would come home to my one-bedroom apartment and just sob. I was overwhelmed, I was doubting myself, I missed home and the people who truly knew me, and I felt very alone. To comfort myself, I turned to music, listening to my favorite songs as I cooked dinner or washed the dishes.

I found myself returning to The Killers, in part because their music reminded me of home, of the American West, evoking images of canyon drives, of the desert night air, a palimpsest of languages, cultures, and pasts. (Additionally, Brandon Flowers is a Latter-day Saint, so I often hear echoes of Mormon beliefs and catchphrases, which makes me smile.)

But it was rediscovering “Be Still” which calmed me. I listened to it over and over, lying on the ground with tears streaming down my face, as the music and the lyrics planted peace in my soul. That didn’t mean that the song solved everything. I was (am) still in a challenging PhD program, with all the angst, uncertainty, and hardship that entails. But it planted a belief that there could be peace in my life, even in the midst of difficulties. It is a belief I still have to cultivate every day.

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Conflict is an intrinsic part of human relationships, and opposition is a facet of living. But peace eschews violence—to our communities, to our families, to ourselves. Peacemaking is hard, holy work. It requires sacrifice, it requires humility, it requires cultivation, and it requires integrity. “Be Still” reminds me that peace is steadying, and it gives me strength to “rise up like the sun, and labor ‘til the work is done.”

“Be Still,” by The Killers

Be still
And go on to bed
Nobody knows what lies ahead
And life is short
To say the least
We're in the belly of the beast

Be still
Wild and young
Long may your innocence reign
Like shells on the shore
And may your limits be unknown
And may your efforts be your own
If you ever feel you can't take it anymore

Don't break character
You've got a lot of heart
Is this real or just a dream?
Rise up like the sun
Labor 'til the work is done

Be still
One day you'll leave
Fearlessness on your sleeve
When you've come back, tell me what did you see?
Was there something out there for me?

Be still
Close your eyes
Soon enough you'll be on your own
Steady and straight
And if they drag you through the mud
It doesn't change what's in your blood
(Over rock, over chain, over trap, over plain)
When they knock you down

Don't break character
You've got a lot of heart
Is this real or just a dream?
Be still
Be still
Be still
Be still

Over rock and chain
Over sunset plain
Over trap and snare
When you're in too deep
In your wildest dream
In your made up scheme
When they knock you down
When they knock you down

Don't break character
You've got so much heart
Is this real or just a dream?
Oh, rise up like the sun and
Labor 'til the work is done
Rise up like the sun and
Labor 'til the work is
Rise up like the sun and
Labor 'til the work is done.

(For a lovely acoustic version of this song by Brandon Flowers--singing at Senator Harry Reid's funeral--you can click on this link here.)