I'm taking one deep breath before beginning to type this.  Christmas morning comes on the heels of Christmas Eve, promising a bright dawn after an evening of sacred candlelight services.  But tonight, I don't know if the church where I'm scheduled to preach will gather in the morning or not.  So, I'm back at the computer, reading up on posting a video here.  For them.  For any of you who comes by.  Will start with this advent poem I wrote years ago.  It's about time.   If my sermon video attaches, you may have to search for the link like a shepherd looking for a sign.  God bless us all. 

Thirteen more days
'til Christmas --

We know beforehand
just when to celebrate
the nativity.  We
count shopping days,
penciling activities
on December's blocks,
organizing his birth.

Yet in that first moment
the words
must have been whispered
as they have been
many thousands of times
before and since,
in surprise and surety –

"It's time, Joseph. It's time."
 
Lord, awaken us this Christmas
sharply, suddenly,
that we might gasp
with Mary's joy,
"He's come!"