Audrey Francis has contributed to this blog on a few occasions. Recently she sent me this meditation for advent ‘Borrowed Spaces’ – allowing me to use it on the blog and also to give you permission to use and reuse it as you see fit, so long as you credit her as the author. Audrey recently completed her studies at Vose Seminary, and has a lifetime of service behind her, including a period as a missionary nurse in Africa.
Borrowed Spaces
A Meditation for Advent
Her time was near, time to give birth to her first- born.
She felt the movement of the donkey
to the core of her swollen body
as the animal carried her over the rough road.
This was not as it should be;
This moment of creation, sacred and holy.
Crowds pressed around, intent on their own reasons for being there.
Did anyone care?
All this travel simply because of a decree
that the people should be counted
for the satisfaction of an Emperor.
It seemed as though the birth of her child in a strange place
was simply to satisfy the occupying power.
And yet, the angel had told her not to be afraid,
that she had pleased God and prophesied that the child within her
would be holy.
Mary yearned to touch the peace,
which the angel had given her from God.
The peace that had stayed deep in her soul,
Ready to embrace her child.
She gave birth to the Prince of Peace, in a borrowed space.
Centuries later, the sound of gunfire, anger and violence
had been the companion of a “modern day Mary”.
Beneath a fragile canvas roof
She prepares to give birth.
This child would know a world of uncertainty
For it seemed that there was no other.
Near her are other “modern day Marys”,
Their eyes lifeless, their hearts hopeless,
Searching for some peace,
which might embrace their children.
The world they see is harsh and unforgiving.
The future seems friendless
unless, somewhere, there might be a borrowed space
warmed by the holy light of love and acceptance;
that light that will never be extinguished.
© 2015 Audrey Francis
beautiful poem