Advent Reflection (24) – Advent Calendar

Firstly, my apologies that there was no Advent Reflection (23). Our daughter was in a very difficult labour and we needed to be near her to offer support. She had a little boy, by the way (well not so little – 9lbs 9!) who is doing well, but your prayers for our daughter, Anna, would be welcome. She is on the mend…

Rather than ‘fill the space’ I think I want to leave (23) absent, as somehow a reminder of the spaces, the unexpectedness and the challenges of life. I offer this beautiful poem, by Rowan Williams, for you to think about and reflect upon this evening.

Advent Calendar (Rowan Williams)

He will come like last leaf’s fall.
One night when the November wind
has flayed the trees to bone, and earth
wakes choking on the mould,
the soft shroud’s folding.

He will come like frost.
One morning when the shrinking earth
opens on mist, to find itself
arrested in the net
of alien, sword-set beauty.

He will come like dark.
One evening when the bursting red
December sun draws up the sheet
and penny-masks its eye to yield
the star-snowed fields of sky.

He will come, will come,
will come like crying in the night,
like blood, like breaking,
as the earth writhes to toss him free.
He will come like child.