Poet Sara Etgen-Baker reminds of the silence that preceded the great Christmas song of hope:
 
1428-THE FIRST NOEL
The angels did not sing. Not at first.  
Their silence split the sky like frost on stone,  
a pause between the star’s slow burst  
and the breath that would become the song.  
 
Noel, they’d say, but first—the dark,  
the shepherd’s fire gnawing at the night,  
the lamb’s pulse quick beneath his palm,  
the weight of wool, the itch of straw,  
the way a man might kneel  
without knowing why.  
 
Then~
the air grown thick with wings,  
the cry like wine poured from a height,  
the name that broke the nameless dark:  
Noel, Noel, the root, the spark,  
the falling, catching, light.  
 
Now we hum it, clean and bright,  
but the first Noel was half a scream~  
the sound a world makes when it tears  
and finds the seam is lined with gold.
 
May our silence make a way for all the promises of this joyful season. Merry Christmas from the MMOC Contemplative Core Team! Contact us at 314-578-0062 or [email protected]!