This past week, I penned a poem to point my heart back toward the great and grand story of the Christ.
Christmas poems are something I enjoy sharing with my friends. So, here’s a video of this spoken word piece I’ve entitled “We Adore.” I’m praying you, too, are pointed near to the heart of God’s redeeming grace.
We Adore
By Pastor Michael J. Breznau | Christmas Eve 2022
Christmas is a season brimming over with lore
Happy carols resound and wreaths grace each door
Tinsel and chestnuts, presents and lights
Fruitcakes and chocolate cherry bites
The eyes of young children sparkle with glee
They wonder what they’ll find under the Christmas tree
Of all these we say, “Oh how we adore!”
But the wallets of parents fill up with receipts
They dread their next bill with its high-interest fees
We hope for snow to arrive on Christmas Eve
Yet please don’t our travel impede
And surely be gone by New Year’s Eve-Eve!
We want all our wants wrapped up with a bow
So, with peace we can rest by a fireside with faces aglow
Perhaps even catch a kiss under the mistletoe
Of all these gifts we say, “Oh how we adore!”
But what of Jesus the Christ
The Child born to the humble, outcast, and poor?
His arrival was stressful
Arduous days of travel
Marching under taxation gloom
Only to find no space in the guest room
His birth included no tinsel or LED lights
No chocolates or fruitcakes or Turkish delight
A draft of cold blew through the air
No one was hoping for snow then and there
Joseph and Mary cuddled their baby as he nursed and cried
Strips of cloth for lambing season lay nearby
To keep Him warm they’d suffice
So, they wrapped Him like a lamb prepared for Temple sacrifice
He’d come to save His people from their sin
Even if there was no space at the inn
Then fast asleep they laid Him in a straw-filled manger
A stone feeding trough to guard Him from danger
Silence. Rest.
Weary from the journey. Worn from the labor
The young couple beheld the face of their Redeemer
On a nigh hillside the sky broke open with God’s messenger
The King’s coronation carol echoed across the pasture
To shepherds: the humble, outcast, and poor
Most thought they were closed off to God’s door
But they ran to the Baby-King pell-mell
Bubbling over with a story they couldn’t help but tell
Everyone stood in wonder at the news
Considering all the prophetic clues
Today, He is the One to whom we bow
In reverential awe we vow
He has come to restore
Granting us life forevermore
So, open your heart’s door
To the One we worship and adore
This Infant unlike any other
He was born to be our Brother
Reconciling God to humankind
The Perfect One, holy, divine
He was born to the displaced and disgraced
So that all may come to Him and receive God’s redeeming grace.
“And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God
for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”
(Luke 2:18-20)
ADORATION | ad•o•ra•tion [1535–45; < Latin]
- 1. the act of paying honor, as to a divine being; worship. 2. reverent homage. 3. fervent and devoted love.
