"...like crying in the night."

This Advent hymn has been ringing in my ears, and I was so happy to find it with the words...such a great reminder of what we are waiting for.

Likewise, Rowan Williams' beautiful poem below describes the awe and mystery of the arrival of the Great Divine, "like last leaf's fall, like frost, like dark, like crying in the night..." not particularly festive images, but essential descriptions of what our lives are like with the birth of God's essence into our world. Richard Rohr says in his Daily Meditations for Advent today, "The Christ we are asking for and waiting for includes your own full birth and the further birth of history and creation."

"How do our perceptions of Jesus and Christ need to be changed for this birth to be real?" Rohr goes on to ask.

Thinking about Williams" poem, what are the necessary conditions for the coming of Christ?

Advent Calendar

He will come like last leaf's fall. One night when the November wind has flayed the trees to the 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.