From the angel’s first appearance
I’ve waited for this moment.
Confident in your plan,
confident that all generations will call me blessed.
Confident, when Joseph doubted me,
when my parents did not understand,
when my friends laughed at me,
and turned the other way.
Confident, in the face of a journey
decreed by Rome’s power,
a journey to this city of David….
We invested in goods to sell in the trade city of Jericho
and I walked the long journey with my loaded donkey.
I stopped that last night at an inn
poised on the edge of Jericho’s wilderness valley.
The neighbours at my table did not look promising;
holy men who carried scrolls not knives,
shabby companions on this last stretch
where you need someone who will stand firm beside you,
someone good for a fight.
That next morning I left the inn alone,
the dawn just crowning;
On Friday night we left the tomb in silence,
our feet heavy on that grave road,
clinging to each other for support
every face wet with tears.
Our steps beating out the refrain of our hearts,
“He’s dead, he’s dead.”
No sleep for me all that long night.
Each time I closed my eyes
I was again on that road to Jerusalem
palm branches waving,
again at a table with Jesus
They were grateful lodgers,
considering the humble accommodations.
We did the best we could,
the place full up,
our stable the last corner we had.
Mary, who had a baby coming,
wanting only peace and privacy,
was happy with anything.
It was a birth like any other,
the mother spent, the baby crying,
the father bewildered.
I gave her swaddling clothes,
the ones my Daniel used.
I am a Mennonite pastor currently teaching theology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario. I’ve served congregations in Ontario and most recently, Alberta.
I love to write and to lead worship! If you are finding my writing helpful, I would love to hear from you! Feel free to use or adapt the material here, it is all written by me. If printing material, please credit “Copyright Carol Penner www.leadinginworship.com” (and say whether you modified it). If publishing, please contact me for permission. Contact me at carol@leadinginworship.com
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