Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Micah 5:1-5

1Now you are walled around with a wall;
   siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the ruler of Israel upon the cheek.

2But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
   who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
   one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
   from ancient days.
3Therefore he shall give them up until the time
   when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
   to the people of Israel.
4And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
   in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth;
   5and he shall be the one of peace.

If the Assyrians come into our land
   and tread upon our soil,
we will raise against them seven shepherds
   and eight installed as rulers.

Bethlehem is now walled around with a wall that needs to be taken down.
Continue lifting your prayers and action.

    
Without asking for it or even dreaming about it, a currently insignificant spot is incorporated as an integral part of a new story. A king’s birthplace becomes an anti-king’s birthplace.

Where a king brings order and pacification, an anti-king brings peace and energy. Both bring forth “security” after their own kind. Security has again raised its head as an eternal quest object only obtainable by leaving it behind.

If a little town of Bethlehem can birth kings and anti-kings, there is no security as usual. We’ve been looking for security in all the wrong places. Micah asks us to imagine government and religion not being about order and indestructibility, but about justice coming forth based on having experienced injustice in exile and under our own leaders. The peace of Bethlehem is a renewal of justice.

= = = = = = =

o little house of bread
how easily distracted
by fancier fare
perhaps
“... an undigested bit of beef,
a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese,
a fragment of underdone potato”

dream of ghostly transformation
through past mistrust
current misery
future emptiness
prayerfully concluded
“God bless us, everyone!”

dream deep
house of bread
of but a little wine and
a creation beginning song
“Peace on earth, goodwill to all”

dream of a feast of love
with thou and thou and thou
each feeding each
in pastures of plenty
’til exiled justice
is welcomed home