Pomegranates, a prayer, and a poem

Dear friends in Christ, 

We are here at the 3rd Sunday of Advent—JOY Sunday!  Advent was originally a season of penitence and in the midst of that is a recognition that we need to invite and receive joy always, so the third Sunday is when we wear rose colored vestments (at Trinity our rose chasuble is a VERY bright pink, that brings smiles upon seeing it every time!), light the pink candle on the Advent wreath, and anticipate the joy of Christmas in just a few weeks. 

A pomegranate is a beautiful thing, reflecting bright red joy and an abundance of seeds with tart flavor.  One of you gifted me with a real one this morning and we celebrated that the pomegranate features heavily in the Old Testament as a design element in the original Temple, on the vestments of the Temple priests, and in biblical artwork.  For New Testament believers, it symbolizes the abundance of God, the gathered community of the faithful.  This photo is of three ceramic pomegranates I brought home from the Holy Land in 2013.  Their beauty and presence remind me daily of God’s presence and abundant love and mercy.

Advent is full of devotionals, prayers, family traditions and wondering and anticipation.  Those of us gathered on Sundays for the Adult Forum are walking with Zechariah, Elizabeth, John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph on their journeys of faith and trust in God’s promises.  Contemporary poets and theologians add their voices each year to OUR advent journeys. 

Here, I offer a moving, if challenging, poem from Denise Levertov, followed by an Advent collect written by a brother at our local Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE). May one or both of these offerings be of comfort and sustenance to you on your Advent journey to the manger once again. 

On the Mystery of the Incarnation

It's when we face for a moment

the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know

the taint in our own selves, that awe

cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart:

not to a flower, not to a dolphin,

to no innocent form

but to this creature vainly sure

it and no other is god-like, God

(out of compassion for our ugly

failure to evolve) entrusts,

as guest, as brother,

the Word.

—Denise Levertov (1923–1997)

Info about the poet: Denise Levertov was born in England to a Welsh mother and a Russian Hasidic father. Her father, who had emigrated to the UK from Leipzig, converted to Christianity and became an Anglican priest. She moved to the United States in 1948, and in 1955 became an American citizen. By the time she died in 1997, Levertov had published nearly fifty volumes of poetry, prose, and translations. Levertov taught at Brandeis, MIT, Tufts, Stanford, and the University of Washington. It was at Stanford, where she taught for 11 years (1982–1993) in the Stegner Fellowship program, and where her papers are now housed, that Levertov converted to Christianity at the age of sixty. After moving to Seattle in 1989, she joined the Catholic Church.



And an Advent collect from SSJE: 

God of healing judgment, your merciful kindness is like a refining fire, your gentle touch a purging salve:  Comfort us with your tender and fierce love, that we, made whole and sound by your cleansing justice, may reach out to a troubled world with your reconciling peace; Through Jesus our Lord  Amen. 

Your sister on the journey, 

Nancy+