christmas lights

We light a match, kindle fires,
  torch the place, burn it all down.
So angry at the world that You bequeathed
  in all its fallen frailty…angry at the other

not like us; anger that’s a smokescreen
  conveniently veiling our own ruined hearts.
What are we hiding in those depths
  of darkness? Why, our pride, of course,

that shouts, “Oh, no, not me, O God! 
  I’m not as bad as them.”
But anything I fix my eye upon lures,
   like carrion to a ravenous crow, 

an enslaving perversion that converts
  me to an agent of hate and death,
more vengeful, more judgmental,
  a pornography of moral rage,

less reliant on immortal mercy.
  The same match that builds the fire
could light a candle to quell
  the blackness of the soul, can stoke

the hearth and warm our so cold,
  so inhuman human hearts…
Light the lights upon Your tree!
  Small pinpricks that point to one

brighter star, one flame that lasted
  a night, but illumined with light
that the darkness cannot overcome,
  not now, not ever!  Alleluia, Amen!

Liz McFadzean

“When hardness of heart keeps us from seeing,
Hearing and embracing one another: 
Let your grace consume us, O God.”  

            Prayer from Grace Pasadena