Mary’s Expectation

Marys_Expectation_Candles.jpg

 

I miss my mother –

standing close to her

to light the Sabbath candles,

the smell of her warm challah bread

mingled with the scents

of her freshly bathed body next to mine

as we pray together and joyfully enter the sacred night.

 

I never dreamed of delivering my babe away from home –

away from her

in a city with its noises even after dark

so little holy quiet in this place

squatting in smelly borrowed room

the kindness of innkeeper’s wife nearby

brought tears to me beyond the pain of birthing.

 

Now with newborn in my arms –

fresh eyes open and slowly focus on mine

hold me

then close in trust and rest

and for one brief moment

Love’s nearness undoes me and

I hear the noisy night whisper “Holy.”

 

—Rebecca Letterman, M.Div.‘08

      associate professor of spiritual formation

 

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