Faith at Five Reflection
1st Sunday after Xmas Day
28 December 2014
On this fourth day of Christmas, we are all in need of rest
which is at the heart of this poem by George Herbert, his first Christmas poem:
After all pleasures as I rid one day,
My horse and I, both tired, body and mind,
With full cry of affections, quite astray;
I took up the next inn I could find.
There when I came, whom found I but my dear,
My dearest Lord, expecting till the grief
Of pleasures brought me to Him, ready there
To be all passengers' most sweet relief?
Oh Thou, whose glorious, yet contracted light,
Wrapt in night's mantle, stole into a manger;
Since my dark soul and brutish is Thy right,
To man of all beasts be not Thou a stranger:
Furnish and deck my soul, that Thou mayst have
A better lodging, than a rack, or grave.
————
George Herbert’s
poem reflecting on a Christmas in the early 17th century may seem far removed
from Christmas in the early part of the 21st century, but truly, not much has
changed. George’s
traveler was riding on a horse; we drive an automobile, yet both of us are
exhausted after the pursuit of Christmas pleasures via parties, gifts,
food, and the list goes on…
The forms change but the content stays basically the
same. Human beings will be human
beings. We get our souls worked up,
chasing after pleasure after pleasure, believing this time the satisfaction
will last…if only i get/do/be/go to this or that (fill in the blank),
I will be happy. But after all the gifts
have been opened, the parties have ended, the music has faded, the happiness
that felt so real in those moments of gratification now seem more elusive to us
than ever before.
Herbert’s traveler is
familiar with such deep exhaustion from the pursuit of pleasure (and his horse
too). Experiencing a range of emotions
early in Christmas, he finds a quaint country inn to rest for the night.
And it is here, in the mundane, little inn that Bethlehem’s
inn is made known to the exhausted and anxious traveler. He sought pleasure but
found grief. Yet in grief, he finds
himself in the inn of God’s presence where
the Christ-child becomes to all weary travelers, most sweet relief.
After all the distractions pass away, after all those would
be pieces to the deepest holes of our soul find themselves incapable of filling
the great void, God finds his way to us and makes his inn where our grief
resides — in
the very soul of the weary Christmas traveler. Oh, but my soul is not ready for
you and your glorious yet contracted light!
Since my dark and brutish soul is yours by right, O God, you must
furnish and deck my soul…otherwise you will
have nothing for a lodging but a grave.
If we identify with Herbert’s
Christmas traveler: anxious, on an emotional roller coaster, feeling a bit
lonelier, darker, heavier after the Christmas season began than before, this
poem is a message of hope. After the
pursuit of pleasure leaves us in more grief than before, God is present,
longing to deck the halls of our soul as a glorious manger for the Christ-child
to abide within us, illuminating our being with the radiance of his glorious
light which shines forth true joy from deep within long after the Christmas
festivities have ended.
————
After all pleasures as I rid one day,
My horse and I, both tired, body and mind,
With full cry of affections, quite astray;
I took up the next inn I could find.
There when I came, whom found I but my dear,
My dearest Lord, expecting till the grief
Of pleasures brought me to Him, ready there
To be all passengers' most sweet relief?
Oh Thou, whose glorious, yet contracted light,
Wrapt in night's mantle, stole into a manger;
Since my dark soul and brutish is Thy right,
To man of all beasts be not Thou a stranger:
Furnish and deck my soul, that Thou mayst have
A better lodging, than a rack, or grave.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
