Christmas Carol
by Andrew Goddard
Lord, you left your heavenly glory,
Came to bear our human frame,
Nurtured in the womb of Mary,
Girl to whom the angel came.
“Greetings, Favoured Blessed Virgin,
You shall bear God’s only Son”
Trusting, though perplexed, she answered,
“As you say, God’s will be done”.
Secretly within her body,
Mary felt her Saviour grow,
Then imperial power commanded,
Off to Bethl’em they must go.
There, God’s mother, weak and tired,
Body wracked with labour pain,
Wonders at her fragile firstborn -
God now come on earth to reign.
Shepherds working on the hillside,
Awe-struck, hear the angel throng,
“Glory be to God in heaven
Peace on earth” proclaims their song.
“For to you is born a Saviour
Far from power, might and fame,
Wrapped in cloths within a manger,
God has come to share your shame”.
Word of God, once born of Mary,
Jesus Christ, our servant King,
Truly God and truly human,
Now to you our praise we bring.
From your birth in that poor stable,
To your death at Calvary,
You gave up your life for others,
Your great love has set us free.
(suggested tunes: Abbot’s Leigh, Austria)
The Revd Dr Andrew Goddard is Tutor in Christian Ethics at Trinity College, Bristol, editor of Anvil and on the Leadership Team of Fulcrum
Discuss this Article on the Fulcrum Forum
Forum Posts About This Article:
Posted by: pete hobson
Sunday 28 December 2008 - 10:20pm
So Tom Wright's Christmas Message is that "a vote for disestablishment would be a vote against Incarnation, a vote against Chrostmas" - granted a couple of qualifiers around it about cultural and historical milieu. This is coming it a bit strong, isn't it? Given that no other Christian community in this country is established, Given that in no other country in the world does establishment exist in quite the form it does in England - not even in the rest of the UK. Doers that leave the CofE by law established as the only sane defender of incarnation and Christmas? Or is it that all the other churches, given the chance, would vote FOPR establishment, in just the form we have it? No, Tom. I can understand the case for arguing that for the church to push for disestablishment just now is inexpedient. Understand it, if not agree with it. But a vote against the incarnation??? A vote against Christmas??? Heresy and Scroogery rolled up into one hypothetical act of suffrage! Might it just be that some principal exponents of establishment are a little too influenced by the vantage point of influence that establishment gives them? Use it by all means - but don't defend it in such extravagant language, that belongs quite elsewhere...
Posted by: Graham Kings
Saturday 27 December 2008 - 11:22am
On Fulcrum, we have linked into the Christmas Day sermon of Rowan Williams.
We have just copublished with the Diocese of Durham site, with permission, the Christmas Day sermon of Tom Wright, 'Incarnation and Establishment'. See also 'The Government shall be upon his shoulders', scroll down, the Christmas Eve Midnight Eucharist sermon of Tom Wright.
Posted by: Graham Kings
Thursday 25 December 2008 - 06:59am
Christ is born today! Christmas greetings in Christ!
We have just published on Fulcrum 'Announcing the King (not quite as expected)' by James Mercer.
Posted by: Roger Hurding
Wednesday 24 December 2008 - 05:26pm
Yes, I was right. My web browser obliterated the spaces between stanzas. There are in fact 8 verses, each four lines long. Thank you Mark for your reflection.
Posted by: Mark Bennet
Wednesday 24 December 2008 - 11:34am
Not a poem, but a reflection from a wedding I took yesterday (23/12).
God's love is always too big for a couple to keep to themselves, and at a wedding we see that clearly in the people gathered around for a joyful occasion. But though it isn't always a big party the same principle continues to apply.
At this time of year we remember what happened in a crowded Bethlehem on Christmas night - though the people in and of Bethlehem, distracted as they were by their own activity, or sleep, did not notice what was happening, the message could not but break out to strangers nearby, shepherds as it happens, who saw and rejoiced.
So even if what we do tonight seems marginal in a distracted world, the love of God in Jesus is too big to remained trapped in our churches and church communities ...
Posted by: Graham Kings
Tuesday 23 December 2008 - 10:45pm
Many, many thanks to Peter and Roger for both your poems to add to Fulcrum at Christmas. Any more from others?
BTW, why don't we, on Fulcrum forums , have a focus on this particular thread at the moment - other issues can wait for a few days...
Posted by: Roger Hurding
Tuesday 23 December 2008 - 04:25pm
Another modest contribution for Christmas, which I wrote a year or so ago. I hope my web browser will present this OK.
Another Statistic
Another teenage pregnancy,
Another statistic,
Just a slip of a girl,
She slipped up somehow.
The journey was long,
The mule lame,
Her sandal broken,
Joseph in a huff.
Bethlehem was beyond a joke,
The town of in-laws,
Unfriendly, unwelcoming,
Not a place for baby.
Nightfall and a longing for sleep,
A barn of a place,
Strewn with straw,
Jam-packed with animals.
A shriek in the night,
Waters broken, split asunder,
The pain searing, periodic,
Joseph doing his best,
You came caterwauling Into my life,
Face screwed up in petty rage,
Hungrily at my breast.
Visiting times were generous,
Crowding company,
Shepherds, kings, watchful beasts,
Sweet breath heavy in the air,
You brought your own love with you,
Bundled and swaddled,
Bound by love,
To a shadowed future.
Posted by: Roger Hurding
Tuesday 23 December 2008 - 04:13pm
Thank you Graham for the picture of the exquisite sculpture from Utrecht. I love the simply moulded curving lines of the piece and you capture the enfolding love of Mary and the enfolded love of Jesus beautifully in your poem.
Posted by: liddon
Monday 22 December 2008 - 08:50am
Nice to see Madeline Bassett here. I like a bit of verse myself.
Posted by: Peter Menkin
Sunday 21 December 2008 - 02:30pm
So modern a Mary in the sculpture you offer as picture. I downloaded it for my Flicker page. And of course, very much enjoyed the poem.
My effort at a Mary poem:
What song we Hear, what Peace...
by Peter Menkin
Angels are a light to the eye,
offering clarity of the night, bringing
joy in message and presence
of the morning through day;
this season again what song, what peace~ Mary
who says yes to the Lord.
Was it dark, the darkness of the hidden life,
among the secrets of the darkness of night,
when Mary said yes to the Lord?
It seemed she was so alone, young, but a girl.
Innocent. In the darkness of the world,
in the time of man's darkness for lack of God.
Turning away from Him,
lost in man's history.
When Mary said yes to the Lord.
The Angel brought light,
to Mary, to mankind in a darkness of faith,
adrift in the history of man's making.
When Mary said yes to the Lord.
Posted by: Graham Kings
Sunday 21 December 2008 - 09:24am
We have just published, as part of Christmas with Fulcrum, 'Christmas Carol' by Andrew Goddard and 'Time for Something New' by John Watson.
Posted by: Graham Kings
Saturday 20 December 2008 - 09:12pm
We will be adding various items to Christmas with Fulcrum. The first is a sculpture from the shop of the Dom Kerk (Cathedral) at Utrecht, The Netherlands, and a poem on the sculpture, 'Tender Attention'.
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