Madeleine L’Engle (November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American author best known for her young adult classic and Newberry Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time. Also widely read were its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. L’Engle also penned books on her life and her Christian faith. One of my favorite books of hers is Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. Here is a Christmas poem by her.

The Risk of Birth, Christmas 1973

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war and hate
And a nova lighting the sky to war.
That time runs out and sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,
in a land in the crushing grip of Rome:
Honour and truth were trampled by scorn-
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth
And by greed and pride the sky is torn-
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

~ Madeleine L’Engle

A few years ago (2006-2007 to be exact), our focus for The Human & the Holy community (H&H) was “Formative Figures.” One of the people whose life, work, and writings we studied was Howard Thurman (1899 – April 10, 1981). Author, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, educator and civil rights leader, Thurman was the Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 20 books, and in 1944 helped found the first racially integrated, multicultural church in the United States – “The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples” in San Francisco. Dr. Thurman deeply influenced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as many others who strived to combine personal piety with concern for justice and compassionate action.

Here are two Christmas poems by Thurman that are indicative of his theology.

Christmas is Waiting to Be Born

Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes,
and the heart consumes itself, if it would live,
Where little children age before their time,
And life wears down the edges of the mind,
Where the old man sits with mind grown cold,
While bones and sinew, blood and cell, go slowly down to death,
Where fear companions each day’s life,
And Perfect Love seems long delayed.
CHRISTMAS IS WAITING TO BE BORN:
In you, in me, in all mankind.”*

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.”*

~ Howard Thurman
from The Mood of Christmas

Christmas Blessings,
Dan

* NOTE: Dr. Thurman was writing before consciences were raised regarding inclusive language.