Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light: Poetry for Worship, Study, and Devotion
    From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light: Poetry for Worship, Study, and Devotion
    From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light: Poetry for Worship, Study, and Devotion
    Ebook164 pages1 hour

    From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light: Poetry for Worship, Study, and Devotion

    By Ann Weems

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Weems's lyrical poetry is a reminder of the importance of true discipleship. She challenges Christians to look past the ongoing distractions of the "busy work" of church meetings and socials, new programs and technology, and inevitable conflict, while reminding readers in her singularly expressive voice that the "institution" of the church is, at heart, quite simply all about Jesus. This collection of poems, written to be used in worship, in personal devotions, and in discussion groups, is organized to follow the liturgical year from Advent through Easter.

    Kneeling in Bethlehem

    In a style that is contemporary, reverent, and faith-filled, the poet offers a collection of meaningful poems reflecting on the Christmas season.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestminster John Knox Press
    Release dateJun 2, 2010
    ISBN9781611644548
    From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light: Poetry for Worship, Study, and Devotion
    Author

    Ann Weems

    Ann Weems is a Presbyterian elder, a lecturer, and a popular poet. She is the author of Family Faith Stories, Reaching for Rainbows, Searching for Shalom, Kneeling in Bethlehem, Kneeling in Jerusalem, Psalms of Lament, and Putting the Amazing Back in Grace, all available from WJK.

    Read more from Ann Weems

    Related to From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      A Righteous Bender

      Jan 18, 2019

      A Righteous Bender
      11 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      August July

      Jun 15, 2021

      August July
      34 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Apr 5, 2024

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      10 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Sep 20, 2024

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The Editor

      Apr 22, 2019

      The Bible in a Nutshell is amazing! I have just received a ‘Bible in a Nutshell’ book as a gift from my mom. Wow, wow, wow – what a treat. I can’t put it down and have learned so much from it. What a treasure. Thank you for producing such a valuable

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      June

      Apr 16, 2022

      June
      32 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The Editor

      Nov 27, 2020

      I I believe b that we are living in the end times as we read about in all the books of the Gospel and listen to what Jesus had said. He warned of pestilences and famines. I believe that Covid-19 is one of the pestilences, as well as all the locusts t

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      July

      Jun 15, 2021

      July
      34 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Jun 16, 2023

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Thursday, December 13

      Oct 15, 2018

      ONE OF MY FAVORITE TIMES of the day is reading aloud to my younger kids. I’ve read books like Little House in the Big Woods, Charlotte’s Web, Betsy-Tacy, and many more wonderful classics. I love sharing some of my most cherished stories with my kids,

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      When They Couldn’t Find A WAY, They MADE One!

      Sep 20, 2024

      In the busy town of Capernaum, a man lay paralysed on a mat, his eyes filled with desperation and hope. His family gathered around him, their faces filled with determination and love. They had heard of a miraculous healer named Jesus, a Man who had t

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Sep 23, 2022

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Absolute Mystery

      Sep 22, 2017

      I HEAR THE WORD, of course. I go to Mass some Sundays, listen to Al Green’s Greatest Gospel Hits, and have lived in or near the Bible Belt for the better part of the past decade. Even still, the word God has never quite fitted itself to my ears. And

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Feb 9, 2024

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      11 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The Editor

      Aug 7, 2020

      Greetings in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In your July issue of JOY! you asked what we are grateful for. I’m grateful for the fact that Jesus Christ saved me and my family. My third born son suffered severe burns on his body, and my last b

      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      We Are Messengers

      Sep 20, 2024

      We Are Messengers
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Oct 28, 2022

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Oct 25, 2024

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      May 19, 2023

      Dear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to ke

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      May

      Apr 16, 2022

      May
      32 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Dec 29, 2023

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Sunday, November 1

      Oct 16, 2020

      I TOOK A DEEP BREATH as I walked up to the podium. I was speaking to a group of alumni at the children’s home where I grew up. Jesus, please help me get through this speech without crying. As I looked at the audience, my mind went totally blank. But

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The Editor

      Jun 15, 2020

      A lot of people are asking why the world is the way it is. What’s going on? What on earth is God doing? Most of these people have never considered God before, but are questioning now that there is this terrible international crisis that is killing th

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Aug 23, 2024

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Letters To The EDITOR

      Aug 23, 2024

      D ear readers, we love to hear your thoughts on the stories that we publish, what is going on around the world, and what the Lord has placed on your heart! Email your letter through to [email protected] for a chance to be featured – please try to k

      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Space Between Silence & Enough: Featured Poetry by Nick Flynn

      Sep 3, 2019

      In "St. Augustine," the final poem in Flynn's excellent new book, we feel the narrator’s conversation with the past, doubt and faith giving breath to each other. The post The Space Between Silence & Enough: Featured Poetry by Nick Flynn appeared

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      From Advent's Alleluia to Easter's Morning Light - Ann Weems

      Pre-Advent

      One More Wall, One More Olive Tree

      One more wall in a walled-in world.

      One more wall in a walled-out world.

      Keep bombs out. Keep tanks out.

      Keep people out … or is it in?

      Two women, divided by wall,

      make their way to each other,

      the tall, thin Palestinian waving her ID

      to the Israeli border guard who nods her through.

      Beyond the wall, she strides toward the cafe

      where the Israeli woman sits, waits.

      Eyes like stars in a black field,

      Sarah is striking in spite of white hair.

      She motions for Hagar to sit.

      Shalom, Mother of my firstborn!

      Hagar smiles, Salaam, Sarah who cradled me

      in your arms as I birthed our son, Ishmael.

      Unspoken memories bring laughter.

      Hagar speaks: It wasn’t funny then,

      you who laugh even at God.

      Sarah agrees, No, and it isn’t funny now.

      I laugh at our childishness, not at our faithlessness.

      Were that we had been childlike, Hagar muses.

      Would that I had learned a lesson

      from our sons at play! Sarah replies.

      We both remember my unmerciful taunting! says Hagar.

      Sarah’s starry eyes mist.

      It took me so long to believe God’s word! So long!

      Hagar leans closer:

      Even though we were jealous and cruel,

      God saw our tears and heard our hearts

      and forgave.

      And kept promises, Sarah adds.

      Hagar agreed, You did give birth to laughter!

      Sarah laughs once more; and God did hear Ishmael.

      God kept promises of land and heir!

      But have the nations been blessed? Hagar asks.

      The land lies red as our heirs

      continue to kill one another!

      Daily danger, says Sarah.

      Perhaps our story is not heard.

      It’s not about our scandalous behavior.

      It’s about not believing God’s promises:

      God’s story is the scandalous one!

      That God would keep these promises!

      that when the promises are in jeopardy,

      that God would provide!

      Even now.

      Even now, Hagar repeats.

      She rises. It’s time.

      Together, they make their way to

      the group who awaits them,

      Palestinians and Israelis meeting

      for Friday prayers.

      Welcome, Mothers!

      Kneeling together in the midst

      of these kneeling children of God,

      Hagar and Sarah plant an olive tree,

      their hands patting the rich God-given earth.

      On their knees, on promised land with promised heirs,

      they pray for peace, one less wall, far more olive trees.

      Even in the choked voices of grief and despair, the group prays.

      Sarah turns her starry eyes to God’s sky and counts.

      Is anything too hard for God? she asks.

      To Sarah, to Hagar, and to us

      in the midst of our own barren wandering,

      O God, provide land and heir and blessing,

      a blessing for all the nations of the earth,

      a blessing of peace.

      This Time Around

      This time around,

      Miriam’s tambourine

      lies on the shelf.

      Her feet aren’t dancing.

      There is no music.

      This time around,

      Miriam’s singing

      is not heard.

      Her voice is stilled.

      There is no joy.

      This time around,

      no Song of the Sea;

      both sides drowning

      in the river of blood

      this time around.

      Miriam, do you call for worship?

      She shakes her head.

      Ears don’t hear

      through blasts of warfare

      this time around.

      Eyes can’t see through

      bloodstained glasses;

      voices can’t speak

      choked on tears

      this time around.

      Shackles of fear,

      chains of mistrust,

      bonds of grief …

      this time around,

      all are slaves.

      And still it comes

      this flood of hatred,

      these waters of revenge.

      Is there no hope

      this time around?

      This time around

      stones are hurled

      terrorists bomb

      the innocent die

      this time around.

      This time around

      tanks roll

      guns kill

      the innocent die

      this time around.

      Miriam asks beneath

      the palm of Deborah:

      Minister of War,

      when will it stop?

      Deborah weeps.

      Pray forme,

      Priest of God,

      Pray forme,

      Deborah cries.

      Pray for us all!

      Beneath the

      palm of Deborah,

      Priest and Minister

      kneel in prayer

      this time around.

      No songs of triumph

      in their hearts,

      they cry to God,

      not for victory,

      but for peace.

      Praying the words,

      Miriam remembers

      horse and rider

      drowned in the sea.

      This time around, she weeps.

      Praying the words,

      Deborah remembers

      Sisera’s mother awaiting

      her son, already killed.

      This time around, she weeps.

      This time around

      God’s voice is heard:

      How can you sing when

      my children are drowning?

      God weeps, too.

      The obscenity of war

      has carved its knife into the

      spirit of the people of God.

      They no longer dance

      this time around.

      War after war,

      generation after generation

      of hardened hearts …

      The prophets ask:

      Where are the hearts that sing?

      This time around

      Miriam and Deborah

      cannot sing, cannot shout,

      cannot celebrate

      this time around.

      Sing, Miriam,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1