Remembering That It Happened Once: Christmas Carmen for Spiritual Life All Year Long

By Bonnie Bowman Thurston

Poets have long given us poems as portals into the stunning event and astonishing affirmation at the core of Christian faith: the Eternal Word has taken on flesh in Jesus of Nazareth. This is the mystery and message this collection of poems explores.
The Latin word for "poetry" is carmen. Over time, carmen formed into our English word "charm." These are Christmas carmen for the believer and doubter, the joyful and sorrowful, and the seeker longing for the experience of "God with us." They are for opening the heart, widening the imagination, and shaping the soul. They are for remembering and beholding the mystery of the Incarnation in everyday life all year long.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Dec 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666726503

Bonnie Bowman Thurston

Bonnie Thurston is a native of southern West Virginia, and lives near Wheeling, WV, having resigned the William F. Orr Professorship in New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2002. She earned the BA in English from Bethany College, and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Virginia. Bonnie has written or edited eighteen theological books and many articles, has contributed to reference works in New Testament and taught at the university level for thirty years. Her scholarly interests in New Testament include the gospels of Mark and John, the Deutero-Pauline canon and, more generally, the history of Christian Spirituality and prayer. She was ordained in 1984 and has served as co-pastor, pastor, or interim of five churches and twice in overseas ministries. She is an experienced spiritual director and retreat leader. Her poetry frequently appears in religious periodicals, and she has authored five volumes of verse. Bonnie is a widow, an avid reader, gardener and cook, enjoys classical music and loves the West Virginia hills.

Book preview

Remembering That It Happened Once

Christmas Carmen for Spiritual Life All Year Long

Edited by
Dennis L. Johnson

Foreword by
Bonnie Bowman Thurston

Remembering That It Happened Once

Christmas Carmen for Spiritual Life All Year Long

Copyright ©

2021

Dennis L. Johnson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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, Eugene, OR

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Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

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www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-3260-3

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-2649-7

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-2650-3

09/17/15

Unless otherwise indicated, the Bible quotations in this volume are from:

The New Testament in Modern English translated by Helen Barrett Montgomery ©

1924

by American Baptist Publication Society. All rights reserved.

The New Testament: An American Translation by Edgar J. Goodspeed © 1923

by The University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.

The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (NRSV), copyright ©

1946

,

1952

, and

1971

by the Division of Christian Education of the United Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV).

The New English Bible, copyright © Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press

1961

,

1970

. All rights reserved. (NEB)

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword by Bonnie Bowman Thurston

The Preface Poem: Sabbath Poem, 1987, VI

Introduction

Prologos

I. Behold, I Will Tell You a Mystery

The Darkest Midnight

Welcome All Wonders in One Sight!

Silent Night

Of the Father’s Love Begotten

For Christmas Day

On the Mystery of the Incarnation

Revery

Not the Millennium

Ave Maria Gratia Plena

Sharon’s Christmas Prayer

Lucubrations

Christmas Day, 1689

Good is the Flesh

The Divine Image

II. Behold, the Servant of the Lord

How Would You Paint God?

The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe

Annunciation

Annunciation

The Annunciation

Magnificat: Annunciation

Ave! Maria!

The Black Madonna

Mary’s Magnificat

Those Who Carry

The Mother Mary: I

III. Behold, Let Us Be Off to Bethlehem

Make Way

ADVENT

The Nativity of Christ

I Saw a Stable

Let the Stable Still Astonish

The Shepherd at the Nativity

The Angel at the Nativity

Mary at the Nativity

Joseph at the Nativity

I am Joseph

Joseph and Mary

The Story of the Shepherd

A Shepherd Boy Remembers

The Shepherd Who Stayed

Lullaby: Sanctus Deus

What the Donkey Saw

A Christmas Prayer

The Wicked Fairy at the Manger

The Innkeeper’s Regrets

How the Natal Star was Born

Two Carols

The Christmas Silence

A Song of the Virgin Mother

In the Carpenter’s Shop

IV. Behold, Magi from the East Arrived

Far Across the Desert Floor

Star Silver

Christmastide

Nativity

Christmas Eve at Sea

Huron Carol

Christmas Carol

The Magi

The Child in the Manger

The Star of the Heart

Nativity

A Christmas Carol

The Three Kings

No Country for Two Kings

A Ballad for the Wise Men

The Gift

When Giving Is All We Have

Promise

V. Behold, Ye Bells; Be Joyful, All

Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Christmas

Christmas

Noel: Christmas Eve 1913

Harness Bells

Music on Christmas Morning

Christmas Morn

Christmas Hath a Darkness

Minstrels

Carol

Carol of the Birds

Christmas

Christmas, 1903

A Ringer of Bells

The Mystic’s Christmas

Sing My Song Backwards

VI. Behold, Christmas Day Is Come

Winter Trees

A Winter Twilight

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Christmas Trees

Noel

The Tree

little tree

Christmas Lights

Star of Wonder, Star of Light

Tinsel, Frankincense, and Fir

The Meeting

The House of Hospitalities

Leaves

Blue Christmas

Wreaths

The Christmas Wreath

For the Birth of Christ

Lack of Faith

Into the Darkest Hour

A Christmas Carol

To Jesus On His Birthday

Christmas Bells

A Christmas Carmen

Wartime Christmas

A Belgian Christmas Eve

Christmas Carols

Christmas

Moonless Darkness Stands Between

What Will it Take?

Christmas On the Edge

Christmas Is Waiting to be Born

VII. Christmas Day and Every Day All Year Long

The Festival of the Nativity

In Tenebris

How the Light Comes

Nativity

Christmas Day

Breathe

Birth

Nativity

Christmas Greetings from a Fairy to a Child

The Bird Coop in Winter

Three Magi Pass My House on a Dusky December Afternoon

Too Wise Men

The Meteorology of Loss

Christmas Mail

Christ Climbed Down

Sugar Mice

The House of Christmas

The Gate of Eternal Blessings

Christmas

A Christmas Hymn

Christmas in the Heart

In the Bleak Midwinter

The Descent of the Child

Christmas Song of the Old Children

And Can This Newborn Mystery

And So the Word had Breath

The Work of Christmas

Christ Has No Body

Epilogos: Healing Prayer from Revelation

Benedictus: From Light to Light

For Further Reading and Reflection

Personal Appreciations

The Poets

Bibliography

Permissions

Berry, Wendell: Remembering that it happened once, from This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems 1979–2012. Copyright © 2013. Reprinted by permission of The Permission Company, LLC on behalf of Counterpoint Press, www.counterpointpress.com.

Betjeman, John: Christmas from Collected Poems © The Estate of John Betjeman 1955, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1979, Betjeman 1980, 1981, 2001. Introduction Andrew Motion©2006 (iii) the words. Reproduced by permission of John Murray Press, an imprint of Hodder and Stoughton Limited. https://www.hodder.co.uk.

Cairns, Scott: Annunciation and Two Icons: I. Nativity from Slow Pilgrim: The Collected Poems by Scott Cairns. Copyright © 2015 by Scott Cairns. Used by permission of Paraclete Press. www.paracletepress.com.

Chaves, Jonathan, Christmas used by permission of the author.

Cranston, Pamela, Advent (On a Theme by Dietrich Bonhoeffer) from Searching for Nova Albion, 2019, Wipf and Stock Publishers. Used by permission of the publisher. https://wipfandstock.com.

Crooker, Barbara: Blue Christmas from the journal Perspectives 2012, Nativity from Small Rain (Purple Flag Press), Star of Wonder, Star of Light from Radiance (Word Press, 2005) and The Meteorology of Loss from Starting from Zero (Great Elm Press). Used by permission of the author. www.barbaracrooker.com.

De la Cruz, Juana Inés, Christmas Day, 1689 from The Road from Bethlehem, Pegram Johnson III and Edna Troianao (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993). Used by permission of the publisher.

Domina, Lynn: Leaves from Christian Century, December 6, 2017. Copyright © Christian Century 2017. Used with permission of the publisher. Three Kings Pass My House on a Dusky December Afternoon. Used by permission of the author. www.lynndomina.com.

Fanthorpe, U. A.: The Wicked Fairy at the Manger, What the Donkey Saw, I am Joseph, Lullaby: Sanctus Deus, The Tree, and Not the Millennium" from New & Collected Poems (Enitharmon Editions, 2010). Used by permission of the publisher and the estate of UA Fanthorpe. https://enitharmon.co.uk.

Ferlinghetti, Lawrence, Christ Climbed Down, from A Coney Island of the Mind, copyright ©1958 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reprinted by permission of New Direction Publishing Corp. www.ndbooks.com.

Fields, Leslie Leyland: Let the Stable Still Astonish and No Country for Two Kings. Used by permission of the author. www.leslieleylandfields.com.

Gioia, Dana: Tinsel, Frankincense, and Fir and For the Birth of Christ. Used by permission of the author. http://danagioia.com.

Guite, Malcolm: Christmas on the Edge from Sounding the Seasons by Malcolm Guite. Copyright © Malcolm Guite, 2012. Published by Canterbury Press. Used by permission.

Kamienska, Anna: Those Who Carry and Lack of Faith from Astonishments: Selected Poems of Anna Kamienska Edited and Translated by Grazyna Drabik and David Curzon. Polish text copyright 2017 by Pawel Spiewak. Translation and compilation copyright 2007 by Grazyna Drabik and David Curzon. Used by permission of Paraclete Press. www.paracletepress.com.

Kooser, Ted: Christmas Mail, from Poems (Heron Press, 2012), Harness Bells, and A Ringer of Bells. Used by permission of the author. www.tedkooser.net.

Lee, Karen An-Hwei: Healing Prayer from Revelation, The Bird Coop in Winter. Used by permission of the author. www.karenanhweilee.com.

Lee, Li-Young, Nativity from Book of My Nights. Copyright © 2001 by Li-Young Lee. Reprinted by permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of BOA Editions, Ltd., www.boaeditions.org.

L’Engle, Madeleine: Into the Darkest Hour, Used by permission of the literary estate of Madeleine L’Engle, Charlotte Jones Voiklis, administrator. www.madeleinelenge.com.

Levertov, Denise, On the Mystery of the Incarnation from A Door in the Hive, copyright© by Denise Levertov. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. www.ndbooks.com.

Li, Wu, The Gate of Eternal Blessings, translated from the Chinese by Jonathan Chaves in Singing of the Source. Used by permission of the translator.

McIlhagga, Kate, "Birth’ from The Pattern of Our Days, Kathy Galloway, editor. Copyright © Wild Good Publications. Reprinted by permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.

Millay, Edna St. Vincent, To Jesus On His Birthday from The Buck in the Snow. Copyright 1928, © 1955 by Edna St.Vincent Millay and Norma Millay Ellis. Reprinted with permission of The Permission Company, LLC on behalf of Holly Peppe, Literary Executor, The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society. www.millay.org.

Morris, Wilda: The Innkeeper’s Regrets previously published in Songs of the Eretz Poetry Review, What Will It Take?, and A Shepherd Boy Remembers. Used by permission of the author.

Nesdoly, Violet: How the Natal Star Was Born. Used by permission of the author. www.violetnesdoly.com.

Newsom, Brent: Make Way and Christmas Day. Used by permission of the author.

Porter, Anne: Noel from Living Things. Copyright © by Anne Porter. Reprinted with permission from Steerforth Press. http://steerforth.com.

Richardson, Jan: How the Light Comes from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons © Jan Richardson. Orlando, FL: Wanton Gospeller Press, 2015. Used by permission of the author. janrichardson.com.

Rios, Alberto: When Giving Is All We Have from A Small Story About the Sky, Copper Canyon Press, 2015. Used by permission of the author.

Rowe, Noel: Magnificat: Annunciation from A Cool and Shaded Heart: Collected Poems, edited by Michael Brennan, Vagabond Press, 2008. Used by permission of the estate of Noel Rowe, Bernadette Brennan literary executor. https://vagabondpress.net.

Runyan, Tania: The Shepherd at the Nativity, The Angel at the Nativity, Mary at the Nativity, and Joseph at the Nativity first appearing in Delicious Air, Finishing Line Press, 2006. Used by permission of the author. www.taniarunyan.com.

Sandburg, Carl: Star Silver from The Sandburg Range. Copyright © 1957 by Carl Sandburg and renewed 1985 by Margaret Sandburg, Janet Sandburg, and Helga Sandburg Crile. Reprinted by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Shapiro, Rami: From Light to Light from The Paraclete Poetry Anthology: Selected and New Poems Edited by Mark S. Burrows. Copyright 2016 by Paraclete Press. Used by permission of Paraclete Press. www.paracletepress.com.

Shea, John: Sharon’s Christmas Prayer in Seeing Haloes: Christmas Poems to Open the Heart, copyright© 2017 by Order of Saint Benedict. Published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the publisher. https://litpress.org.

Stalcup, Michael: Breathe from Fathom Magazine and Christmas Light from Ekstasis Magazine. Used by permission of the author. www.michaelstalcup.com.

Thurman, Howard: The Work of Christmas and Christmas is Waiting to be Born, from The Work of Christmas and Other Celebrations. Friends United Press. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the publisher. https://bookstore.friendsunitedmeeting.org.

Thurston, Bonnie Bowman: Silent Night copyright © The Christian Century. Used with permission of the publisher. Lucubration from Practicing Silence: New and Selected Verses by Bonnie Thurston. Copyright 2014 by Bonnie Thurston. Used by permission of Paraclete Press. www.paracletepress.com.

Walker, Frank X: Too Wise Men from Black Box, Old Cove Press, 2006, copyright © Frank X Walker. Used by permission of the author. www.frankxwalker.com.

Williams, William Carlos: The Gift, from Collected Poems: Volume II, 1939–1962, copyright© by William Carlos Williams. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. www.ndbooks.com. Reprinted for UK and British Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) by permission of Carcenet Press. www.carcanet.co.uk.

Wren, Brian: And Can This Newborn Mystery © 2005, Hope Publishing Company, Good Is the Flesh © 1989, 1996 Hope Publishing Company, Sing My Song Backwards © 1983, 1995 Hope Publishing Company. Used by permission of the publisher. www.hopepublishing.com.

The two art sketches included in the book appear courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, and its Open Access policy (Creative Commons Zero). The Nativity, (c. 1665–70) by Bartolomé Estebán Murillo (1617–1682). The Nativity of Christ, with Shepherds and Kings in Adoration (c. 1782–1844) by Giuseppe Bernadino Bison (1762–1844). www.metmuseum.org.

The cover art is reproduced courtesy of The National Gallery of Art, Washington (Creative Common Zero). The Nativity (sculpture, c. 1460) by Domenico Gagini (1449-1492).

To our daughter Megan,

who as a child recited when swinging

the R. L. Stevenson poem her grandparents taught her . . .

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown—

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

Foreword

Almost everyone enjoys Christmas, even (maybe especially?) non-Christians. Certainly businesses do. They put up the lights and decorations, and put out the Christmas merchandise before Advent, even (in the U.S.A.) before Thanksgiving. I’ve observed that those who never sing