{"id":921,"date":"2009-11-29T15:25:07","date_gmt":"2009-11-29T15:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2009\/11\/the-bonding--a-christmas-poem.html"},"modified":"2009-11-29T15:25:07","modified_gmt":"2009-11-29T15:25:07","slug":"the-bonding-a-christmas-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/11\/the-bonding-a-christmas-poem.html","title":{"rendered":"The Bonding— A Christmas Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"c2.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

THE BONDING<\/h1>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A cold and listless season,<\/p>\n

And full of cheerless cheer,<\/p>\n

When hopes are raised and dashed again<\/p>\n

And joy dissolves in tears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The search for endless family<\/p>\n

The search for one true Friend<\/p>\n

Leaves questers tired, disconsolate<\/p>\n

With questions without end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Best find some potent pleasure quick<\/p>\n

Some superficial thrill<\/p>\n

Than search for everlasting love<\/p>\n

When none can fill that bill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So hide yourselves in shopping<\/p>\n

And eating ’til you burst,<\/p>\n

Use endless entertainment<\/p>\n

As shelter from the worst.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And hope at least for truce on earth,<\/p>\n

Though warlords rattle swords<\/p>\n

As if to kill could solve our ills<\/p>\n

We seize our ‘just’ rewards.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mistake some rest for lasting peace<\/p>\n

And calm for ‘all is well’<\/p>\n

And absence of activity<\/p>\n

As year end’s victory bell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what if Advent is no quest<\/p>\n

Despite the wise men’s star<\/p>\n

What if Advent isn’t reached<\/p>\n

By driving from afar?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What if Good News comes to us<\/p>\n

From well beyond our reach?<\/p>\n

What if love and peace on earth<\/p>\n

Are more than things we preach?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What if a restless peace<\/p>\n

Is what He did intend<\/p>\n

Until we open up our lives<\/p>\n

And let the stranger in?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What if a peaceless rest<\/p>\n

Is not the Christmas hope<\/p>\n

What if nothing we could do<\/p>\n

Helps us truly cope?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What if there is a bonding<\/p>\n

With one who rules above<\/p>\n

Who came to us in beggar’s rags<\/p>\n

And brought the gift of love?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The God shaped hole in every heart<\/p>\n

Is healed by just one source<\/p>\n

When Jesus comes to claim his own<\/p>\n

Who are without recourse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So give up endless seeking<\/p>\n

Surrender is required<\/p>\n

The one who is the Lord of all<\/p>\n

Cannot be bought or hired,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He’s not conjured into life<\/p>\n

By pomp and circumstance<\/p>\n

By Yuletide carols boldly sung<\/p>\n

By fun or drunken trance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He comes unbidden, unawares<\/p>\n

Fills crevices of souls<\/p>\n

He comes on his own timely terms<\/p>\n

And makes the sinner whole.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘We shall be restless’ said the saint<\/p>\n

‘Until we rest in thee’<\/p>\n

And find that we have been reborn,<\/p>\n

Our own nativity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How silently, how silently<\/p>\n

The precious truth is given<\/p>\n

And God imparts to human hearts<\/p>\n

The blessings of his heaven.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BW3 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE BONDING     A cold and listless season, And full of cheerless cheer, When hopes are raised and dashed again And joy dissolves in tears.   The search for endless family The search for one true Friend Leaves questers tired, disconsolate With questions without end.   Best find some potent pleasure quick Some superficial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bonding- A Christmas Poem - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2009\/11\/the-bonding-a-christmas-poem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bonding- A Christmas Poem - 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}