Advent IV

by Richard Stoltzfoos

Before the world’s beginning He was light,
And when I call Him light, I mean the sun’s
Light heavy in its glory, yet become
So light of weight as being but a babe,
Which shows importance does not lie in weight.

And when I say in weight, I do not mean
Importance never lies within the wait,
As Israel waited—a light wait, certainly,
Given the outcome—but surely few deny
Importance lies rag-swaddled in the manger.

And when I say He lies, I mean He lay,
For Truth will never lie, not when all men
Are lying in the darkness, in the night
Of liars and of men that lie in wait,
Constricting all earth too tightly for breath
Until the sun rose red. I do not mean
That like a flower seed, He grew a rose,
Or that, as flour set in by Kingdom yeast,
He rose to be the Bread of Life we needed,
Or that God’s Son arose on pierced feet.
I mean all these, but not primarily—
Suggestions easily rise in common word.
Nothing has more potential than the word,

And by the word I mean the Word of God.
Though night and darkness cover earth’s events,
His Word will make the darkness cut and run,
Even if that Word is said to wastes and wild,
Even if that Word is said in Bethlehem,
Even if that Word is said by—is—a child.

Richard Stoltzfoos is the son of Adin,
son of Wilmer,
son of Elam,
son of Moses,
son of Samuel,
son of John,
son of Christian,
son of Nicholas Stoltzfus,
who in the year 1766 emigrated from Europe,
being born of Christian Gottlieb Stoltzfus,
of the Saxon line of that name
which began in the year of our Lord 400,
by the provision of God, in German Saxony.

Artwork: Svolvaer Harbour at the Height of the Fishing Season. Study from Lofoten, Anna Boberg, 1934