Advent Angel

 

And so we begin...again, as though for the first time.

We at Christ Church have been blessed with the presence of Rev. Emily Blair Stribling and her husband Robert. While many now know Emily is a gifted preacher, not as many know she is a remarkable and published poet! When Emily sent me the poem below, Advent Angel, I just felt that it was also a gift, for all of us, to escort us into Advent.

Advent Angel

Her name is Willa.

She is taller than I am.

She speaks softly.

She loves candles, 

ones that smell like fir trees 

and ones that smell like roses.

Her blond hair is curly all over.

She likes to wear forest green

and magenta together,

and brown boots she

says she’s had forever.

Wore them in the stable

when she went to visit 

the baby. It was so cold

she also wore her brown-tweed coat.

She says she remembers

the sweet scent of hay and hide,

the steady chomping of

the animals gathered round

that rickety manger, 

as if there was nothing 

special about God

being born bona fide 

blood and bone snuggled

in the straw to keep warm,

which was when, she says,

she saw streams of light 

begin to flow into the barn 

and into every cranny in her body.

Or at least that is how

she explained why she’d come

to bring that light

to help us find a way through

this season of silence,

the dark waiting of 

the hoped for unknown.

When she leaves

I hear her wings

whisking the cold air.

I am not sure the words “to bring light/to help us find a way through/this season of silence,/the dark waiting of/the hoped for unknown.” have ever carried more meaning, have themselves offered more hope.

Hope is the candle we light on the first Sunday of Advent. Hope in things unseen, yet to be seen, yet somehow known by faith. I am not sure we have ever been in a space of such deep hope, not sure we have ever trusted in an invisible divine restoration and redemption. I am not sure we have ever so leaned into tidings of great joy, desiring it to be true.

It is a liminal space we enter in Advent, an almost imperceptible threshold. It is often more about reorientation than footsteps. But whatever it is about we give ourselves our to an “advent angel” who beckons us with light and love. It is an often taken for granted, imperceptible, caregiver who escorts us with simple ordinary and blessed acts of kindness.

Perhaps like Mary’s or Elizabeth’s, our advent angel will invite us to say yes to something magnificent. More likely our advent angel will offer companionship and encouragement. 

Whoever, whatever, yours is, may there be an enlightenment of hope and a deepening of faith this season. 

May our advent angels guide us to a “bone fide” sacred baby in the humble straw.