Second Sunday of Advent 2019

It was a time like this,

War & tumult of war,

a horror in the air.

Hungry yawned the abyss -

and yet there came the star

and the child most wonderfully there.

It was a time like this

of fear & lust for power,

license & greed and light - 

and yet the Prince of bliss

came into the darkest hour

in quiet & silent light.

And in a time like this

how celebrate his birth

when all things fall apart?

Ah! Wonderful it is

with no room on the earth

the stable is our heart.

-- "Into the Darkest Hour," by Madeleine L'Engle