An' a 1, An'a 2, An'a 3, Advent IV

After Sunday's wonderful Christmas pageant at St. John's (that's Brenna Hayden, as Mary the mother of our LORD, singing a solo as angel Emily Salvanera watched beatifically), we skipped the readings appointed for the fourth Sunday in Advent, which were all about paradox and perplexity, just like the Incarnation -- God spurning the mighty temple King David wanted to build, the astonishing miracle of St. Paul's universal ministry in the hidebound first century, and especially the Annunciation.

Here's the song I offered instead. I wish I could hum it for you. I probably wish this more than you wish to hear it. The congregation graciously joined in on the chorus. Think Calypso. Thanks to Andy Guilford for the balcony-eye photo:

[chorus]
We love Christmas, but here’s the thing
How can a baby be a king?
This Bible stuff, it seems to us
Is sometimes too mysterious

[2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16]
Joseph descended from David’s throne
Capernaum was his stepson’s home
No saint ever lived in poverty
Who understood that grace is free

[Romans 16:25-27]
You’d have found Paul too intense
The job God gave him was immense
The equity we still aim to achieve
In the apostles’ time, an impossibility

[Luke 1:26-38]
Love that transfigures time and space
Revealed at a single hour and place
The favored one’s perplexity
Should daily happen to you and me