Sunday, January 27, 2013

Christmas 209


Okay, Christmas is over, but definitely something you can celebrate all year long, right?  

Read this poem at church Christmas Eve because we were in the throes of a funding campaign to buy the building Avenue 209 Coffee House is housed in.  The Common Place raised $10,000+ smackers towards the building and renovation fund in less than a month!

A little history on the poem:  

1.  I rarely EVER write poems that rhyme.  Rhyming is for songwriting.
2.  I wrote this our first Christmas Eve in the shop, while we were still renovating the main storefront.  It was cold and barely lit with candles on a stepladder.

Anyhow, amazing that it holds much more love in it today than it did then!



Christmas 209

through the cajoling Christmas crowd
among the hustle and bustle and holiday cheer
long seeking the star of David
treacherous journey brought us here

our own little stable
calling out through the night
humble, main street storefront
guides us here by His light

we looked for awhile
to find the right place
voted down for the variance
should've seen the look on my face

but council wanted us in
still we waited awhile
now know we're on God's time
remembering, with a smile

busted-up, taped-up windows
and the walls bowing in
plastic bags stuffed up there
where an air conditioner once had been

witnessing new beginnings
like Christ in the manger
there's a King in my coffee
what could be stranger?

the wise men could make it
bringing gifts, so can we
grunt work, management, design
slinging espresso, writing poetry

but all the gifts we can give
they can't match His grace
how to hear "job well done"
see that look on His face

the x in x-mas
stands for the cross that he bore
and we need mas Christ muy rapido
because in Spanish mas means more

commit your plans to the Lord
I learned yesterday evening
pray with me on Christ's birthday
to bring Him into this building

1 comment: