Streams of Mercy

Every year I turn to old favorites filled with deep meaning. One such favorite is this poem by J. Barrie Shepherd:

“Late Tidings”

After more than eighty of such purple seasons,

you might think there would be nothing

left to look toward, get ready for.

And, to be sure, there breathes

an air of fond familiarity over much

that we get up to in these leaning forward

weeks of early winter.

All those lists, addresses, recipes,

festive greens and candles, special services

bazaars and concerts, sip-and-dip occasions

frequented by a dwindling clan

of usual suspects all swapping tales

of medical misadventures

and prodigy grandchildren.

“And it came to pass, in those days…”

even so and yet, it all begins again, spell-binding,

simplest words, sweet lingering syllables

that resonate within, beyond the weary ear

into the heart of all our hoping, with a melody

that sings through fear and brings glad news

of an eternal comforting that echoes fondly

from the past and yet is ever new.

As we prepare our hearts for Christ’s coming, may we hear those “glad tidings of great joy” in deeper ways than ever before – that “eternal comforting that echoes fondly from the past, and yet is ever new.”

Elizabeth