Madeline L’Engle, author of the wildly successful, award winning young adult novel A Wrinkle In Time, often found herself on the outside looking in with the faith that inspired so much of her writing. L’Engle was a devout Christian in the Episcopal tradition. Despite the fact that her book — which borrows heavily from the light vs dark imagery in the writings of the apostle John in a cosmic story of good vs evil — won the Newberry Medal, the most prestigious award for children’s literature, and has sold over ten million copies, it was initially rejected by 26 publishers and ultimately by much of the Christian world. The American Library Association ranks it in the top 25 of the most frequently challenged books. Many Christian bookstores, schools and libraries flat out refused to carry her books, largely because she believed "All will be redeemed in God's fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones."
Though I’ve neither experienced the massive success or virulent persecution she did in her life, I can relate to being told by others what I can and cannot believe and say and who I can and cannot associate with. For as long as there have been people who believe in God, there have been people who convince themselves they are the ultimate spokesmen for Him and attempt to legislate Him to everyone else. Even when God walked the earth in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, there was no shortage of experts correcting and rebuking Him for not being what “God wanted Him to be”. That’s right, humans were telling God how to be God.
So what did God do? How does God react when humans try to direct God? He goes about His business, not worrying Himself with the distraction. When His followers became distraught at the opposition He was prone to say things like, “Don’t cast your pearls before swine….Shake the dust off your feet….Let them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind.” That seems to be the approach that Madeline L’Engle took in her work.
In 1973 she wrote two poems that I think are best read together. The poems are The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973 and First Coming. They were written after the Vietnam War had formally ended and the Watergate scandal was unfolding. I find these words poignant in our polarizing and politically charged, war torn time. The latter poem I recently discovered while attending a “Blue Christmas” service — sometimes called a “Longest Night” service held around the winter solstice to provide comfort and hope for those grieving or struggling during the holiday season by focusing on reflection, healing, and acknowledging pain — when the pastor lead the assembly in reciting this poem together to end the evening. I think First Coming is best prefaced by The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973.
The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973
This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.
That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;
Honour & truth were trampled by scorn —
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.
When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn —
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.
First Coming
He did not wait till the world was ready, till men and nations were at peace. He came when the Heavens were unsteady, and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time. He came when the need was deep and great. He dined with sinners in all their grime, turned water into wine.
He did not wait till hearts were pure. In joy he came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt. To a world like ours, of anguished shame he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh, to heal its tangles, shield its scorn. In the mystery of the Word made Flesh t he Maker of the stars was born.
We cannot wait till the world is sane to raise our songs with joyful voice, for to share our grief, to touch our pain, He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Comments
Post a Comment