the deepening ground

Brilliant! That’s all I can say about this wonderful juxtaposition of an ordinary, selfless act of love on behalf of the powerless performed by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and the work of Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh on behalf of all humanity. My wife and I wept as I read it aloud over the din of our local Chiptole last night. This poem comes from “25 Poems for Christmas, Volume 2” on the Art and Theology page that I stumbled upon recently. These poems have become a vital part of my celebration of the season and advent meditations. I am seeing with fresh eyes, hearing with unstopped ears, and believing for His kingdom to come and manifest itself in our midst as it did when Christ was born and when ordinary people continue to be His hands and feet.

On a Cardinal Climbing Down a Manhole to Restore Power to 400 Homeless People by Michael Stalcup

We were almost used
To living in the dark,
To being powerless,

That day you quietly
Pulled the lid off the sky
Of a world below

And snuck down, strange
Inside that stale air,
To flip the switch,

Subverting power structures,
Sparking gasps of joy
In us who could not pay

That suffocating debt,
Your dirtied hands declaring,
“Let there be light.”