The Mystery of Incarnation

*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Phil. 2:5-11 CLASSIC POEM: Annunciation John Donne Salvation to all that will is nigh; That All, which always is all everywhere, Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear, Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die, Lo! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie In prison, in thy womb; and though He there Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He’ll wear, Taken from thence, flesh, which death’s force may try. Ere by the spheres time was created thou Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother; Whom thou conceivest, conceived; yea, thou art now Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother, Thou hast light in dark, and shutt’st in little room Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb. *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: On The Mystery of the Incarnation Denise Levertov It’s when we face for a moment the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know the taint in our own selves, that awe cracks the mind’s shell and enters the heart: … [ READ THE FULL POEM ]