by Marijke Strong
First Sunday of Advent:
Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37
God, John of the Cross said
we are all pregnant.
How do you feel about that?
And if it is so, how then
are we to pray?
I don’t know anymore.
Advent, advenire, adventus.
Come, Holy One.
In the waiting of these dark days
increase in us your Word
that we may bear
your light.
That’s not quite right.
So fill us
that we are abrim
with the syntax and syllables
of your genesis
within
where every fragment yearns to be complete
make us replete
in the speech and knowledge of your grace.
So grow in us
that we are kindling with sentences
that everyone reads our condition
and comments upon it
burgeoning with fire and life
make us rife
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
So kick within our bellies
that we grip our sides and ache for the time
when the story will be fully told
when you will open the heavens
and come down
in power and glory
make us bold
for your revealing.
God. I have to admit, I may have made
this praying thing too complicated.
I’m more used to piling up my words
than expecting yours.
If John of the Cross was right,
it’s much simpler than we knew.
Come, Lord
and as we wait
teach us to eat for two.
Marijke Strong is the minister for congregational care and community life at Fellowship Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan.
