The Christmas Poems

By William Flewelling

The joy of Christmas, more and more understood within the traditions of the feast of the incarnation, brought a brooding meditation over several years, leading to a series of poems of varying lengths in celebration of the experience and the thought of Christmas. Most of these poems came during the period 19872004 with a recent addition lured from my pencil by the work on this book. This last appearing poem is perhaps an epilogue on the devotion of Christmas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524625023

William Flewelling

I am a retired minister from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) living in central Illinois. Led by a request from Mildred Corwin of Manua OH when I arrived there in 1976, I long developed and led a series of bible studies there and in LaPorte IN and New Martinsville WV. These studies proved to be very feeding to me in my pastoral work and won a certain degree of following in my congregations. My first study was on 1 Peter, chosen because I knew almost nothing about the book. I now live quietly in retirement with my wife of 54 years, a pair of dogs and several cats.

Book preview

© 2016 William Flewelling. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/15/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-2503-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-2502-3 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Foreword

1. Christmas Mirrors For The Mind

2. Musings On The Nativity

3. For Christmas: 1989

4. For Christmas: 1990

5. Two For Christmas Cards: 1989

6. The Night Of Unlikeness

7. The Christmas Party

8. Met At The Crèche

9. Nativity: 1993

10. Those Throes Of Christmastide

11. A Christmas Draw Upon The Straw

12. Christmas Card Message – 1994

13. Exchanging White Elephants: A White Turkey Indeed

14. Oratory

15. Christmas Card – 1995

16. Toward Infancy: 1995

17. Two Votives Toward Christmas Tide

18. At Night, That Night

19. Annuncio By Nuncio

20. Adoringly

21. One Night

22. Christmas Card: 1996

23. So Wonderful:

24. At Christmas: Ritual Extended

25. Christmas Eve

26. The Babe

27. One Birth

28. The Winds Of Christmas Eve

29. One Stormy Christmas Eve

30. No Service

31. Christmas Musing: 1998

32. Christmas Blessing

33. Christmas Story Retelling

34. Christmas Ready

35. Card For 1999

36. Observed Of Christmas Time

37. A Christmas Musing

38. A Christmas Glance

39. Decorating Outdoors

40. Christmas Card: 2000

41. Bowed Christmas Balls

42. Some Christmas Shine

43. Aught One Christmas Card

44. Beneath The Tree

45. From Your Shelf To Mine

46. Christmas Card Poem: 2002

47. As Holiday Cheer

48. Sunday Of Magnificat

49. On The Way Out

50. Angelic Asides

51. Impression

52. Guest

53. Looking To Christmas

54. Surge, Illuminare

55. Christmas Card: 2004

56. Holiday Cheer Afoot

57. Renewing Pasts

58. Wreathing Style

59. Christmas: A Winter Coming

About the Author

Also By This Author

Poetry

Time Grown Lively

From My Corner Seat

Enticing My Delight

The Arthur Poems

From Recurrent Yesterdays

In Silhouette

To Silent Disappearance

Teasing The Soul

Allowing The Heart To Contemplate

As Lace Along The Wood

To Trace Familiarity

The Matt Poems

Elaborating Life

The Buoyancy of Unsuspected Joy

To Haunt The Clever Sheer Of Grace

Devotional

Some Reflective Prayers

Reflective Prayers: A Second Collection

A Third Collection Of Reflective Prayers

For Your Quiet Meditation

A Fourth Collection Of Reflective Prayers

Directions Of A Pastoral Lifetime

Part I: Pastoral Notes, Letters To Anna, Occasional Pamphlets

Part II: Psalm Meditations, Regula Vitae

Part III: Elders’ Studies

Part IV: Studies

Part V: The Song Of Songs: An Attraction

Inn-By-The-Bye Stories

vols. 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Exegetical Works

From The Catholic Epistles: Bible Studies

Paul’s Letter To The Romans: A Bible Study

The Book Of Hebrews: A Bible Study

all published by AuthorHouse.com

Foreword

Christmas always has a fascination for those of us in the Christian world. Even most of those who share naught of the Christmas story, that which makes for the Religious Christmas, are caught into the Commercial Christmas, more attuned to Rudolf than to angels singing on high in praise of a birth in Bethlehem long ago. A lot of confusion runs between the two – the religious celebration of the Feast of the Incarnation and the commercial upholding of the consumer economy’s greatest extravaganza. These poems are aware of the Commercial Christmas; no one in America could easily not be aware of it! But the driving force is the Incarnation and the lively sense of awe in that story.

As a child, my paternal grandparents came every year, often by train, sometimes on Christmas day itself [my Grandfather was a Minister of the Gospel in Decatur IL and had his responsibilities until he retired in 1959]. I remember Christmas morning opening with my Grandfather standing under the mistletoe merrily greeting the entire family with a robust Merry Christmas.

I remember a year when I was maybe 12 and coming out of a community Thanksgiving service – it was in an E & R Church, as I recall – and sitting in the car, beginning to sing Christmas Carols for the first time that year. It was for me a start of a season of refined joy.

I remember a year early in my ministry – this would have been in the late 1970s – when everyone had a party and the weight of them all got to me. I was blue for Christmas until I was doing my typical pre-worship devotions on Christmas Eve [then out of the Cuddesdon College Office Book], at which point a profound calm and joy came upon me, a coming to the point of Christmas as we turned to the story and to carols and