Welcome to the Imagination Redeemed podcast where we follow the great stories further up and further in In Pursuit of the Life of Christ. Hello everyone, welcome to the Imagination Redeemed podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Sarah Howell. And as Advent draws to an end and as we look forward to the celebration of Christ's birth, we wanted to present to you Lucy Shaw's poem, Mary's Song as a reflection. And it's so rich that the poem
doesn't need much more. By way of introduction Mary's Song by Lucy Shaw Blue homespun and the bend of my breast Keep warm the small hot naked star fall into my arms rest you who have had so far to come. Now nearness satisfies the body of God. Sweetly quiet he lies whose vigor hurled a universe he sleeps, whose eyelids have not closed before his breath so slight it seems no breath at all. Once ruffled the dark deeps to
sprout a worm. Charmed by dove's voices, the whisper of straw, he dreams, hearing no music from his other Spears. Breath, mouth, ears, eyes. He is curtailed who overflowed all skies, all years older than eternity. Now he is new, now native to the Earth. Now native to Earth as I am nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free, blind in my womb to know my darkness ended. Brought to this birth, for me to be newborn and for him to see me
mended, I must see him torn. As this poem reminds us, limits aren't the end of the story, They are an opportunity. It is into the midst of our world's limitations that the God of the universe slips. After months of darkness in a womb, God is not afraid of constriction. Beginning on that one unique dark night, He instead works within time and space and offers us the invitation to participate
with him. We embody godly generosity and joviality as a community full of hope, precisely in the space and time allotted to us, not in one grand gesture, but in the habitual creation of concentrated warmth and cheer, in making rich foods and hot drinks and telling stories and lingering as we see each other more fully in long conversations
by the fire. We're loving having this winter conversation with you, and after Christmas our winter content will continue to focus on this theme, but we wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas in the meantime, and a few notes for what the life of the Ansem Society is doing. Looking ahead into the new Year, there are a couple of things worth drawing your attention to. 1st, if this podcast has been helpful to you this year, will you make a year end gift to help us keep it going? You can do so at
anselmsociety.org. And 2nd, starting in mid January, Brian Brown, our Executive Director and one of the hosts of me on this podcast is going to be teaching a six week online course on the Christian imagination. And in that we will delve into the foundations of so much of what we do here. Brian's been teaching this course face to face in person in a couple of different venues for years, but we have finally made it accessible on an online format. So tickets are now available and
they are going fast. And with that, I will leave you guys with just a word of thanks. Thank you for being with us in this whole year. Thank you for the ways that you have already helped and partnered with us. Merry Christmas and have a happy new Year. And I'll close this out by reading again, and see Shaw's poem, Mary's Song. Blue, homespun, and the bend of my breast. Keep warm the small hot naked star. Fall into my arms. Rest you who have had so far to come.
Now nearness satisfies the body of God. Sweetly quiet he lies whose vigor hurled a universe he sleeps, Whose eyelids have not closed before his breath so slight it seems no breath at all. Once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a worm. Charmed by dove's voices, the whisper of straw, he dreams, hearing no music from his other Spears. Breath, mouth, ears, eyes. He is curtailed. Who overflowed all skies, all years older than eternity.
Now he is new now native to Earth as I am nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free. Blind in my womb to know my darkness ended. Brought to this birth for me to be newborn and for him to see me mended. I must see him torn. Go in peace. The Imagination Redeemed podcast is a production of the Anselm Society. It's easy to see this world as disenchanted and to give up hope
that there's more. But you were made to see the world with the eyes of heaven and to live a bountiful life that participates in the life of God, like in the great stories. To help make the show possible, go to anselmsociety.org/podcast 25 and make a donation. The Anselm Society is a place where you can come in and experience that beauty, joyful celebration, and ancient wisdom and go out renewed, bringing that life to your vocation, home, and church.
Learn more at anselmsociety.org and join us next time as we pursue a renaissance of the Christian imagination together.