Blah Christmas

Here’s my new poem-spoken word film for your 2020 Christmas. It’s been quite a year, friends! 

Watch it: 

Read it: 

Each Advent, I’d pen a poem, a Christ-themed rhyme,

a light-filled song about that night divine

 

My heart was full as ink struck scroll

A Christmas cheer, a snowflake here,

A starlit night inspired my mind, my heart felt bright

 

But try as I might… the Christmas feel is forced this year

The adornments hang like a cheap veneer

 

No snow, no song, no pine boughs hung

Could break this despondent spell of the no good, very bad, coronavirus 2020 year

 

Omit the raging illness, everyday still unveils the ugliness

Which rose to the surface in this year of fear

 

Politicians screaming, innocence falling, landscapes burning, and voting, voting, voting!

Facebook shouted at us every day, every month, hey, it seemed the whole year: “Have you yet registered to vote in this year of all years?”

 

How can I think of what’s ahead when I just want this crazy turmoil to end?

 

How can I write of happy glad tidings, holly and jolly, when the world appears to be going down into a sin-stained, stench-filled potty?!

 

I looked and waited for the Christmas inspiration,

a full week into Advent and still everything was belated, deflated

 

2020 was an exhausting receipt of disappointment – at least that much was clear

– stacked layer upon layer, dampening any sense of Christmas cheer

 

But then I heard the oddest of songs: a dusty genealogy

Set to meter and rhyme with a dose of harmony…

 

Take one listen and all appears as one nasty, gassy charade

From Abraham the lying began, then the whole line of sinners marched on in a disastrous parade!

 

Jacob the deceiver, Judah an abuser, Solomon the idolater, David an adulterer

The longer their march grew, the worse the crew!

 

Rehoboam, Manasseh, Amon, and Jehoiachin, all sick-in-the-head, a sinful kin!

 

The women in the mix? Oft-treated like cattle and chattel

But then I noticed something that would make even the sleepiest head rattle

 

A healing was appearing, a redeeming from the rotting…

 

For Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, God’s grace could be traced

Down this tree of names to a young girl with no societal place

 

Mary, her name is quietly sung but followed by a great anthem

She would give birth to a Son

One like no another, for He would save His people from their sins

And give true freedom within

 

At His Arrival…

Nothing was perfect, nothing was bright

The righteous? Oppressed.

The wicked ruled with great might.

Yet there into a darkest mess,

that year of all years brought hope and forgiveness

 

For the world… a name, a person, a Baby

He would be King of all kings in this our year of all years

And for every year of our Lord after that!

 

So my drooping head and burdened heart were lifted

For Christ arrived precisely for those being sifted

 

The Infant in the manger wasn’t born to the celebrating, but for those in mourning

…in the closet of grief

…in the pressure of pain

…in the darkness of death

 

So as my ink again struck the page

I saw the frame around my portrait of Christmas was amiss

Because I was relying on the tinsel, snowflakes, and holiday bliss

 

The joy of Christmas is found in the grace healing our mess, a redeeming light into deepest darkness

 

Emmanuel enters this year, our neighborhoods of weary, beleaguered COVID-too-near

And declares God is with us still and He will guide us into another New Year.

 

For the One who upended the curse and fulfilled God’s promise

Is the ultimate cure for our Blah Christmas

 

Jesus, the Savior, for all drowning in a stinking sin-sickness.

So, in Him receive Life

Rejoice for He arrived for you that holy night.

________________________________________

“Blah Christmas” | by Michael J. Breznau | All Rights Reserved

Isaiah 9:6-7

For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

Author: Michael Breznau

:: Who I AM: Husband | Father | Pastor | Speaker | Author | Singer | :: I am a redeemed follower of Jesus, and I'm passionate about inspiring others to follow Him with radical faith. | :: What I DO: I love and pursue knowing the Triune God. I am crazy-in-love with my amazing wife and 4 children. After 14 incredible years in pastoral ministry, including 9 years as a Lead Pastor, I now serve as an active-duty US Air Force Chaplain at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. I am the preaching pastor for the Protestant Chapel and the day-to-day chaplain for the 88th Air Base Wing's Mission Support Group, totaling 1,800 Airmen. | :: The Wallpaper: God gave me the opportunity to be trained for ministry at Dallas Theological Seminary, where I completed the Master of Theology program (Th.M in Pastoral Ministries). I'm currently a 4th year Doctor of Ministry student at Talbot School of Theology - BIOLA University. NOTICE: All views expressed on this website are my own and do not, in part or in whole, reflect the policies or positions of the US Air Force or the US Department of Defense.

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