Saturday 16 December
"But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings." (Malachi 4.2)
Sunrise over the Andaman Sea, 2007. Photo: James Kim.
Malachi 4
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.
Psalm 80.14-19
14 Turn to us again, O Lord of hosts:
look down from heaven, and see.
15 Bestow your care upon this vine:
the stock which your own right hand has planted.
16 As for those that burn it with fire and cut it down:
let them perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 Let your power rest on the man at your right hand:
on that son of man whom you made so strong for yourself.
18 And so we shall not turn back from you:
give us life, and we will call upon your name.
19 Restore us again, O Lord of hosts:
show us the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
Matthew 17:10-13
10 And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’He replied, 'Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things;but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.'Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
Richard Wilbur, Christmas Poems, pp. 118-9.
And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. (Luke 19.39-40)
A stable-lamp is lighted
Whose glow shall wake the sky;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
And straw like gold shall shine;
A barn shall harbour heaven,
A stall become a shrine.
This child through David’s city
Shall ride in triumph by;
The palm shall strew its branches,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry,
Though heavy, dull, and dumb,
And lie within the roadway
To pave his kingdom come.
Yet he shall be forsaken,
And yielded up to die;
The sky shall groan and darken,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
For stony hearts of men:
God’s blood upon the spearhead,
God’s love refused again.
But now, as at the ending,
The low is lifted high;
The stars shall bend their voices,
And every stone shall cry.
And every stone shall cry
In praises of the child
By whose descent among us
The worlds are reconciled.
Dancing God,
you exult over us with joy;
as we celebrate what has past
renew us by your love
that we may face the future with hope and joy;
through our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever. Amen.
— Bosco Peters
"Healing in Its Wings", by Glenda B. Schales (2000), sung by Narrow Way, from the album Shelter Me, 2015.