If passion urges us to take
Our inner dragon’s life;
If we think Michael’ s sword of force
Can quell our inner strife
When I pray to you for help, O God,
Do I hope that you will intervene,
Treating me as powerless as a child
Who can do no more than kick or scream?
As a human being come of age
Help me work with you to earth each dream.
Who is this Herod in my heart
That seeks to kill the child?
It is the one who measures life
Till all is weighed and filed;
I am greater than my thinking
Or the follies of my heart,
I can grow in self awareness
That promotes a brand new start,
When we discern Earth’s fractured face,
When parts diverge to form extremes,
Can joining hands suffice to build
A world fulfilling Gospel dreams?
We are always part of the other
And the other is part of our-self
For nothing is as simple as it seems.
Tiptoe, softly, gently
To the Christmas stall;
Space where hope is singing
Peace on earth for all.
God is present in each baby
And throughout all time and space,
In the chaos and the order,
In each tender touch and face.
Amid the many thoughts
Of what we each might be
What images can help us live
With hope and dignity?
Celebrate at Christmas time
Light that only dark can birth,
Light in every baby’s eyes,
Gift of darkened realms of Earth.
The darkness and the light shall be one,
The sorrow and the joy linked in wonder,
Life shall dance,
The song be sung
And the golden fire burn brightly
In the hearts of the children of the Earth.
Mary, Joseph, Jesus,
The characters remain.
Shepherds and the angels,
Truth travellers’ contain
Shaped in ancient story’s
Sweet mystical refrain.
When the child is at the center,
When the babe is in the stall,
When the adult nurtures wonder,
When the carols warm us all,
Then the fragments come together
And the vision shines as one
Taste and see how gracious the Christ is,
Taste and see the wonder of life;
Take the bread, the body of Jesus,
Break the bread, the flesh of the world;
Taste and see the wonder of life.
O golden cup of life,
A chalice full of love,
The space beyond all strife
You form our sacred home,
Your ways produce delight,
Your life becomes our own.
My spirit shall rejoice in God
Who breaks my chains of guilt and fear;
For God upholds each person’s worth
Throughout the ages of this Earth.
If cobwebs fill the corners
That lurk within our mind
Our faith can help us brush aside
Each clinging thought we find
May the food that we eat
And the friends that we share
Give us strength for spreading
True justice and peace.
