Welcome to the Imagination Redeemed podcast where we follow
the great stories further up and further in In Pursuit of the
Life of Christ. Hello everyone, welcome to the
Imagination Redeemed podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Sarah
Howell. And as Advent draws to an end
and as we look forward to the celebration of Christ's birth,
we wanted to present to you Lucy Shaw's poem, Mary's Song as a
reflection. And it's so rich that the poem
doesn't need much more. By way of introduction Mary's
Song by Lucy Shaw Blue homespun and the bend of my breast Keep
warm the small hot naked star fall into my arms rest you who
have had so far to come. Now nearness satisfies the body
of God. Sweetly quiet he lies whose
vigor hurled a universe he sleeps, whose eyelids have not
closed before his breath so slight it seems no breath at
all. Once ruffled the dark deeps to
sprout a worm. Charmed by dove's voices, the
whisper of straw, he dreams, hearing no music from his other
Spears. Breath, mouth, ears, eyes.
He is curtailed who overflowed all skies, all years older than
eternity. Now he is new, now native to the
Earth. Now native to Earth as I am
nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free, blind in
my womb to know my darkness ended.
Brought to this birth, for me to be newborn and for him to see me
mended, I must see him torn. As this poem reminds us, limits
aren't the end of the story, They are an opportunity.
It is into the midst of our world's limitations that the God
of the universe slips. After months of darkness in a
womb, God is not afraid of constriction.
Beginning on that one unique dark night, He instead works
within time and space and offers us the invitation to participate
with him. We embody godly generosity and
joviality as a community full of hope, precisely in the space and
time allotted to us, not in one grand gesture, but in the
habitual creation of concentrated warmth and cheer,
in making rich foods and hot drinks and telling stories and
lingering as we see each other more fully in long conversations
by the fire. We're loving having this winter
conversation with you, and after Christmas our winter content
will continue to focus on this theme, but we wanted to wish you
a Merry Christmas in the meantime, and a few notes for
what the life of the Ansem Society is doing.
Looking ahead into the new Year, there are a couple of things
worth drawing your attention to. 1st, if this podcast has been
helpful to you this year, will you make a year end gift to help
us keep it going? You can do so at
anselmsociety.org. And 2nd, starting in mid
January, Brian Brown, our Executive Director and one of
the hosts of me on this podcast is going to be teaching a six
week online course on the Christian imagination.
And in that we will delve into the foundations of so much of
what we do here. Brian's been teaching this
course face to face in person in a couple of different venues for
years, but we have finally made it accessible on an online
format. So tickets are now available and
they are going fast. And with that, I will leave you
guys with just a word of thanks. Thank you for being with us in
this whole year. Thank you for the ways that you
have already helped and partnered with us.
Merry Christmas and have a happy new Year.
And I'll close this out by reading again, and see Shaw's
poem, Mary's Song. Blue, homespun, and the bend of
my breast. Keep warm the small hot naked
star. Fall into my arms.
Rest you who have had so far to come.
Now nearness satisfies the body of God.
Sweetly quiet he lies whose vigor hurled a universe he
sleeps, Whose eyelids have not closed before his breath so
slight it seems no breath at all.
Once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a worm.
Charmed by dove's voices, the whisper of straw, he dreams,
hearing no music from his other Spears.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes. He is curtailed.
Who overflowed all skies, all years older than eternity.
Now he is new now native to Earth as I am nailed to my poor
planet, caught that I might be free.
Blind in my womb to know my darkness ended.
Brought to this birth for me to be newborn and for him to see me
mended. I must see him torn.
Go in peace. The Imagination Redeemed podcast
is a production of the Anselm Society.
It's easy to see this world as disenchanted and to give up hope
that there's more. But you were made to see the
world with the eyes of heaven and to live a bountiful life
that participates in the life of God, like in the great stories.
To help make the show possible, go to anselmsociety.org/podcast
25 and make a donation. The Anselm Society is a place
where you can come in and experience that beauty, joyful
celebration, and ancient wisdom and go out renewed, bringing
that life to your vocation, home, and church.
Learn more at anselmsociety.org and join us next time as we
pursue a renaissance of the Christian imagination together.