A Thought for Advent

We Suspect Angels and Disbelieve Good News

from Cloth for the Cradle, Wild Goose Publications, Iona Community

We suspect angels
And disbelieve good news
Ah God, who will save us?
Our cynicism is the fruit of our experience
Not the key to the future
Our suspiciousness helps us to smell the rat
Never to recognise the dove.
Our perfect analysis may describe the mountain
But it is powerless to move it.
It is with little pride we must confess:
We suspect angels
And disbelieve good news.
As Christmas approaches,
Give us a share of that divine naivete
Enjoyed by Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary and Joseph
And unnamed country folk,
Who encountered angels,
And believed Good News
And recognised Christ coming among them.
Amen