{"id":632,"date":"2009-12-18T14:52:25","date_gmt":"2009-12-18T14:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html"},"modified":"2009-12-18T14:52:25","modified_gmt":"2009-12-18T14:52:25","slug":"a-dc-christmas-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html","title":{"rendered":"A DC Christmas Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

(cross posted on <\/font>American Values Network<\/font><\/a>)<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font> <\/p>\n

Twas a week before Christmas, and all through my city<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Politicians were scrambl’n, it wasn’t very pretty.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Health care and climate were up in the air,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

But try as Reid might, the votes just weren’t there.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The pols were all dug in, snug in their stances,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Yet more voters cared to watch Tom Delay’s dances!<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Tea party protestors were on message and mad,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

With poor families suffering, the partisan bickering was sad.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

FOX News was lambasting, O’Reilly cried foul,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Palin and Limbaugh continued to howl:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

“Obama, the Muslim, will take Christmas away.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

He’s destroying our country, and he’ll make your kids gay.”<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

And so in this environ, I concluded my year,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Desperately searching for some true Christmas cheer.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

What I got was a perk of winning, which came to my door,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

An embossed White House invite, to their holiday tour.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

“For you and a guest,” the invite did read,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

So I called up a friend, and she followed my lead.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

With spirits renewed, we headed into the cold,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Then my blackberry buzzed, with further instructions in bold:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

“The Secret Service requires much, we’re sorry to say,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

So bring your social, a picture, and no aerosol spray.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Plus, the delays may be long, security’s tight,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

That reality couple last month really they gave us a fright.”<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The Metro was slow, but we arrived at the gate,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Hoping and praying that we were not too late.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The cop looked us over, he patted me down,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

“Let me see your ID,” he said with a frown.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

As we walked through the gate, angry protestors came by,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

And with worries and fears returning, I let out a sigh.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

How easy it is, to lose track of what counts,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

When the pressures and uncertainty of politics continue to mount.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Now the White House is hardly a manger with hay,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

But what happened next gave me hope on that pre-Christmas day.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

You see, as I started to walk and wander around,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Off in the distance, I heard the most beautiful sound.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Just down the hall was a glorious chorus,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Singing of Bethlehem’s star, and God’s perfect love for us.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Then I turned to my friend and started to tell her,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

“You know, I think that singer up there’s my first cousin Keller!” <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Up for Carolina he’d come, a trip with his school.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

What were the odds he’d be here today?  Wasn’t it cool?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

That we’d meet in the White House after a year gone apart,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

And he’d be singing of joy and of hope, with all of his heart?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

And then it all hit me at once, it became clear as a bell,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

A truth for this Season, upon which we should dwell.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Humans will struggle; we’ll fight and we’ll moan.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

The poor will be with us; the suffering will groan.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

But we all have been promised, that’s not how the story will end.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

And so each Christmas we celebrate, with family and friends<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

A child in a manger, and peace on this earth<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

As we join those whom we love, to remember Christ’s birth.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

So good tidings to all.  I wish you hope and good cheer,<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

As we await this coming Christmas, and a bright, hopeful new year!<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(cross posted on American Values Network)   Twas a week before Christmas, and all through my city Politicians were scrambl’n, it wasn’t very pretty. Health care and climate were up in the air, But try as Reid might, the votes just weren’t there.   The pols were all dug in, snug in their stances, Yet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[448,450,451,452,312,5,56,449],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christians","tag-christmas-poem","tag-family","tag-hope","tag-love","tag-oreilly","tag-obama","tag-peace","tag-washington-dc"],"yoast_head":"\nA DC Christmas Poem - Progressive Revival<\/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\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A DC Christmas Poem - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(cross posted on American Values Network)   Twas a week before Christmas, and all through my city Politicians were scrambl’n, it wasn’t very pretty. Health care and climate were up in the air, But try as Reid might, the votes just weren’t there.   The pols were all dug in, snug in their stances, Yet…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-18T14:52:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eric Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A DC Christmas Poem - Progressive Revival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A DC Christmas Poem - Progressive Revival","og_description":"(cross posted on American Values Network)   Twas a week before Christmas, and all through my city Politicians were scrambl’n, it wasn’t very pretty. Health care and climate were up in the air, But try as Reid might, the votes just weren’t there.   The pols were all dug in, snug in their stances, Yet…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html","og_site_name":"Progressive Revival","article_published_time":"2009-12-18T14:52:25+00:00","author":"Eric Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html","name":"A DC Christmas Poem - Progressive Revival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-18T14:52:25+00:00","dateModified":"2009-12-18T14:52:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/29ba652b85566beedbe83d5ce1a393c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2009\/12\/a-dc-christmas-poem.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A DC Christmas Poem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/","name":"Progressive Revival","description":"Politics from the New Religious Progressives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/29ba652b85566beedbe83d5ce1a393c1","name":"Eric Sapp","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b63\/b633169ad1640973736abe8b60e1b980x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b63\/b633169ad1640973736abe8b60e1b980x96.jpg","caption":"Eric Sapp"},"description":"Eric Sapp, a native of Durham, NC, was Senior Partner at Common Good Strategies (CGS) prior to founding The Eleison Group. CGS received significant national attention following the \u00e2\u20ac\u212206 cycle for its groundbreaking faith outreach and messaging work for the DSCC, Senators Casey and Brown, Governors Strickland, Granholm, and Sebelius, Rep. Shuler, and the Michigan, Kansas, and Oregon State Democratic Parties. CGS clients significantly out-performed Democrats nationally (normally by double-digits) with Protestants, evangelicals, Catholics, and weekly church attenders. Dr. John Green, Sr. Fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said about CGS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if Democrats learn a lesson from \u00e2\u20ac\u212206 and are able to duplicate these efforts more widely\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6we could potentially see historic shifts in voting blocks that would dramatically change the relationship between faith and politics in this country.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eric has been a regular speaker on faith and politics on television and radio shows, most often providing a Democratic perspective on conservative programs. Eric\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s background also includes stints with Representative David Price (D-NC), where he handled faith and politics, budget, tax, and homeland security issues. Before that, he worked for Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Eric has a Master of Divinity and Master of Public Policy from Duke. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Julie.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/esapp"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}