The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,000 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.
A D V E N T 2 0 1 3: D E V O T I O N S T O O U R G O D I N T H E M A N G E R
Week 4 Human
Fulfilled
And now the promise is fulfilled,
the Word is complete,
and each sinner dies before God, and
each proclamation creates new life from old death.
The promise is fulfilled at Christmas,
and we are there in this
God-time,
aware in this real time,
alive in this time that does not stand still.
The great miracle has been proclaimed,
and we live it beside this tiny manger,
with this adored baby.
No mighty one tonight,
but a baby is in our view,
and all power is there, obscured in humanity.
Amidst sinfulness, sin dies; God goes there.
In weakness and illness, wretched ones dies; God comes in.
In the misery of lonely death, the light shines.
God is there.
Some come in loneliness, in long nights.
Tonight, the light shines, our God lives, and
I am alive and filled with joy.
Under this tree, I live;
the promise is fulfilled.
I too shine by the manger.
(c) Tom Bolton, 21 December 2013, Deep in Divine Intervention
A D V E N T 2 0 1 3: D E V O T I O N S T O O U R G O D I N T H E M A N G E R
Week 4 Human
The Light and the Man
Word. God. Light. Life. Light.
Human, really human,
and human nature is illumined by
the light.
We too are called to be really human,
God-made human,
God-loved human,
and the light rests on something deep,
and deeper in each of us.
Joy in the Word!
Joy to the World!
God has lifted his love above
everything we can imagine.
Love lies in the manger.
The light shines.
The word is made light, and
as it was in the beginning,
the word is God.
This is a baby in the manger–tonight–
beyond our understanding, and
brighter than we see sometimes.
Again, joy in the Word!
Joy to our World!
(c) Tom Bolton, 20 December 2013, Tippecanoe
A D V E N T 2 0 1 3: D E V O T I O N S T O O U R G O D I N T H E M A N G E R
Week 4 Human
Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Human Too
So human, so child,
Can it be?
And now I remember that Jesus takes shape in we humans;
it is not our form,
but a repetition of form.
May I become human as God became human.
May I change and be transformed,
as a child of Him.
May I be scandalized and upset by
this image of the God-man;
may I see the sanctity and seriousness.
May my faith be renewed as a child.
I see this image of hope now.
Light and growth in some mirror,
I see things anew.
(c) Tom Bolton, 20 December 2014, on ice
A D V E N T 2 0 1 3: D E V O T I O N S T O O U R G O D I N T H E M A N G E R
Week 3 Redeemed
Redeemed, Help my Faith
I believe, I believe, I believe,
I believe, and yet:
Help my unbelief today.
How can it be?
Redeemed and healed, I am often filled with joy,
And yet,
Where does this unbelief come from? Where was it hidden?
Was it hidden at all?
When this faith becomes doubtful of itself,
it stands in temptation again,
as it was in the beginning, in the edge of the garden.
Fragile in our faith, we are sorely tested
each day.
It was
God’s love—his grace—in Jesus that saves us.
It is our faith that takes us there to gaze on Jesus,
To grab hold of His grace, His forgiveness, His empowerment;
Lord, I ride my faith to return to your power.
My faith is in a great, great God.
Yet my faith can be so small;
Help me Lord. Redeem me anew.
© Tom Bolton, December 12, 2012, Milwaukee
Revised for Advent 2013
A D V E N T 2 0 1 3: D E V O T I O N S T O O U R G O D I N T H E M A N G E R
Week 3 Redeemed
In Guilt, Clad
All that God has done for His people,
I see it done for me.
The plaintive cry of the Psalmist rocks me,
and yet my heart cries more silently.
I hear the cry and feel the pain,
and I know the response of our savior.
His grace and care caress me today.
All the past records His grace,
and there is nothing less for me.
Sins so scarlet, marks crimson,
these are lifted up pure, as adorable as the favored lamb-toy.
Jesus took on our guilt,
and I know not to remove myself.
I would claim the divine justification;
I would be warm as the babe in the manger.
I see the innocence, and claim the guilt.
At the manger, I yearn to be redeemed.
Joy in the Word!
Joy to the World!
(c) Tom Bolton, 17 December 2013, with Chili
A D V E N T 2 0 1 3: D E V O T I O N S T O O U R G O D I N T H E M A N G E R
Week 3 Redeemed
Sinless Guilt
He has lifted it all off me,
and I seek to release my guilt.
It is not just the goodness of the baby,
for we know that goodness of the babe.
We struggle more to see the sacrifice,
how he lifts off our guilt.
He dwells with us now;
Human, He overcomes all that burdens us.
Brother, He takes us as we are, and
Dams up our guilt.
(c) Tom Bolton, 17 December 2014, Bay View
Hopeful 