Who's first?

Haiku of sibling rivalry

Rebeckah’s pregnant!

After all these years, Isaac’s

prayers have been answered!

Twins! The two children

fight it out within the womb.

Rebeckah’s anxious.

They are two nations,

says the Lord. The elder one

will serve the younger.

A time to be born.

The first boy was red, hairy.

They named him Esau.

The second emerged,

hand upon his brother’s heel.

They named him Jacob.

Esau the hunter,

loved by his dad; Jake, quiet

loved by Rebeckah.

Let me have some stew,

said Esau. Sure, said Jacob;

Sell me your birthright.

I’m starving to death,

what’s the use of my birthright?

Swear to me! I swear.

Trading his birthright

Esau ate the stew with bread,

and went on his way.

Short term benefit

or some vague future increase;

what would be my choice?

© Ken Rookes 2023

Stable and shepherds

Haiku of the nativity

 

We love Luke’s stories

with the stable and shepherds,

humble and common.

Joseph, his child-bride,

the journey to Bethlehem,

no place of welcome.

I imagine them;

humble northerners, seeking.

Will we welcome them?

Making folk welcome

is not on our agenda,

Sorry, there’s no room.

In a stable, shed;

an improvised bed, cradle.

Yes, these will do fine.

Wrap him in cloth strips.

Thus they will dress him when Luke

concludes his story.

The angels fly in

with shining invitations

for lowly shepherds.

The shepherds turn up,

take in the wonder; return,

telling ev’ryone.

© Ken Rookes 2021

Birth Stories

Haiku for underscoring

Luke tells his stories;

birth stories to underline

Jesus’ importance.

Righteous and devout,

Simeon had been promised

he would see the Christ.

Old man Simeon

came timely to the Temple,

led by the Spirit.

Met the family,

took the child, lifted his voice:

Let me go now, God.

You have promised me,

I have seen your salvation:

light and life for all.

This child is destined

to upset the privileged

and confront the smug.

There will be much pain.

Always there is pain when God’s

new order breaks through.

Anna, the prophet,

also very old, joins in,

to speak words of hope.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Annunciation

 

Improbable Haiku

Annunciation;

a big word for an event

cloaked in mystery.

What really happened?

Only sceptics such as me

would ask that question.

Greetings, favoured one!

The angel addresses her,

claims her attention.

The girl, young, awestruck

by news of a pregnancy.

How would I respond?

How can these things be?

The girl has not known a man;

it’s not possible.

Ah, the story goes;

you will be overshadowed

by the Most High God.

You’ll have a baby.

You will call the child Jesus;

he will be God’s Son.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Natal Narratives

Haiku for a birthday

History retreats

as the birth stories unfold,

highlighting wonder.

Natal narratives,

much loved by card designers;

but no shepherds here!

Matthew takes Joseph,

scripting him the leading role,

puts him centre stage.

Found to be with child!

Mary; what to do with her?

Joseph measures up.

As the story goes

an angel helps him decide,

to do the right thing.

The child, he is told,

is conceived through the Spirit.

Most improbable!

Hooray for Joseph!

By obedience and love

the story proceeds.

The child will be born

and the course of salvation

will not be hindered.

© Ken Rookes 2019

The birth

Haiku of wonder

When a king is born

the stories must reflect it

with wonder and awe.

Apart from angels,

this narrative is humble,

with a common cast.

Comes to Bethlehen,

the tradie with his girl-bride,

about to give birth.

A shed out the back

of a packed-out small-town pub.

Nothing flash in that!

A son is born, wrapped

in cloth strips and put to bed

in a feeding trough.

Shepherds get the news:

the Messiah has been born,

look for a baby.

This will be the sign:

a baby in a manger,

in David’s city.

The shepherds decamped

to see for themselves the child,

as they had been told.

They told ev’ryone

about the child, the one born

to save his people.

© Ken Rookes. 2018

Annunciation

Haiku of wonder

In these ancient tales

unexpected pregnancies

convey the wonder.

God, they assure us,

is at last doing something

to sort the world out.

An agéd woman

has managed to conceive, now

it’s her cousin’s turn.

The angel’s busy

conveying surprising news.

The girl is nonplussed.

Do not be afraid!

Easy to say, Gabriel;

it isn’t your womb!

You will bear a son.

You’ll call him Jesus. He will

do amazing things!

That, we know is true.

We will follow his story;

we will follow him.

Her fears overcome,

the girl agrees, allowing

events to proceed.

Only Luke gives us

these strange announcement stories,

stretching the waiting.

We’re left to ponder:

is wonder the same as truth;

and does it matter?

© Ken Rookes 2017.

A wondrous yarn

Haiku of an often told story

There are no records

of the birth of the Messiah;

just an old story.

An anxious couple

seeking a place of shelter.

The time is at hand.

In a crowded town,

a stable, strangely, becomes

a delivery ward.

A baby is born,

this thing of joy and wonder.

Happens ev'ry day.

Shepherds tending sheep,

angels winging in the sky;

a fabulous yarn.

Go and check it out!

The baby in a manger,

with his mum and dad.

The infant is found;

it was as the angel said.

They are all amazed.

The shepherds return

singing, “Glory!” praising God,

They tell everyone.

© Ken Rookes 2016

Nativity Haiku

Shepherds and angels

conversing in the shadows,

illumined by hope.

Good news pronouncement;

Great joy! The one sent from God

breathes earth's air today.

Down in Bethlehem

while everyone sleeps; at last

something has happened!

No room at the inn;

so the man and the woman

had to improvise.

Why do you delay?

You should get yourselves moving

or you'll miss the show.

Entrusting their sheep

to the angelic choir,

they went to find him.

A baby is born.

It happens every day;

what's special this time?

This feed-box cradle

is offered as a sign. Strange,

but appropriate.

The shepherds returned,

sharing their wond'rous story;

couldn't keep silent.

© Ken Rookes 2015

Blessed the fruit of your womb

The story begins with a girl,

fecund, mid-teens,

belly beginning to swell.

It will get much larger,

as, within her womb,

the miracle of life claims its space.

An unlikely sign, vulnerable,

yet outrageously defiant;

a sign to engender hope,

to confront earth's bondage

and futility.

A peasant girl,

pregnant with purpose and possibility;

the lowly are to be elevated to positions of significance

while kings, emperors, princesses

and other persons of power and plenty

will be asked to descend from their lofty seats

to begin their acquaintance with earth's dust.

The girl could be anyone;

any place on the planet,

any point in its history.

She is caught up in this common human tale;

the wonder,

the waiting,

the struggle,

the pain

and the joy.

A sign for eternity.

© Ken Rookes 2015

Witnesses

Two formerly obscure old people

become Luke’s surprising choice

as his final witnesses

to the Messiah’s birth.

In his historically improbable

but still entrancingly wondrous

natal narrative, he retrospectively presents us

with the excited pronouncements

of an elderly man and an aging widow.

Salvation for Israel,

light and hope for the foreigners,

redemption for Jerusalem;

here, in this infant.

Imagine if a pair of old people stood up

to deliver such outrageous observations

in our own time.

There probably wouldn’t be a camera crew

on hand to record the event

or interview the key players;

it would be unlikely to make the papers.

At best, there might be a few smiling selfies

with the old people, the mother and child.

Some, no doubt, would end up online;

maybe with a paragraph in someone’s blog,

to be reposted by a handful of friends,

or shared with a link.

Most likely we’d offer a patronising wink or a smile

and shake our collective heads

before joining in the joking dismissal.

Let’s face it, the elderly

probably weren’t taken seriously back then,

either. No one else seemed to notice,

or bothered to remember;

only Luke.

© Ken Rookes 2014

Interpreting the story

Gospel writers Matthew and Luke

are the approved suppliers

of the raw materials

from which we cobble together our Christmas stories;

faith being the thread that seeks,

gathers and ties the meaning.

The angels speak of the wonder

of the aching God who decides to take action

and to embrace uncertainty.

The girl-woman, Mary,

is a sign of human obedience

and willingness to let God’s perplexing purposes

take their unpredictable course.

Her carpenter husband, Joseph,

in determining to proceed with their marriage,

shows the persistence of human compassion

in the face of bewildering embarrassment.

And the baby, strange and vulnerable,

tells us of the mystery of divine love

found, unexpectedly and riskily,

among us.

So, what of the fat man in the red suit,

intruding uninvited into our neat nativity?

Perhaps he is God, laughing.

© 2009 Ken Rookes

Scenario

Like a scene from a carefully crafted play,

the angel messenger from above,

an apparition in glowing white

given the name of Gabriel,

passes uninvited through the door

(enter stage left), and approaches

the girl. The wardrobe department

has also dressed her in white,

for reasons which will become apparent.

It is a contest in whiteness.

The heavenly envoy tells the girl not to fear,

that she will give birth

to a Child of Light;

one who, when the stage lights are dimmed

for the penultimate scene,

will continue to shine

for all humankind.

The girl protests the improbability

of such a scenario;

she has not known a man.

She is told that the script for the second act

has already been written.

A divine spark

will overturn the laws of biology

when she is overshadowed

by a mysterious spirit something;

she has only to accept the role.

She does, without actually seeing the script,

thus allowing the rest of the drama

to proceed to its unpredicted ending.

© Ken Rookes 2014.

Advent candle lighting prayer

Candle lighting

In this birth

you will discover

all blessing.

But neglect this birth

and you neglect

all blessing.

Tend only to this birth in you

and you will find there

all goodness and all consolation,

all delight,

all being and all truth. (Meister Eckhart)

(The candle is lit).

Bethlehem Ephrathah

The rich had taken the best rooms

in the inns, and the private homes too.

The moderately well-off took the rest.

The poor camped where they could,

gathered around fires, swapped yarns,

got counted, and made their plans

to head home. Bethlehem

had taken on the appearance

of a refugee camp;

the city fathers were not impressed.

Joseph and Mary had been among

the campers by the creek,

until the contractions

of the impending birth drove them

to seek a more substantial shelter.

In a stable the animals seemed to enjoy

a tolerable standard of accommodation;

they decided to join them.

There the child would be born

and God made welcome.

© Ken Rookes