Immanuel

By Nathanael Manthey

To a people long oppressed,

Haunted by strife and unrest,

Enslaved within and without,

Trapped in spiritual drought,

God incarnate entered the dark

And cold and bleak and stark

Reality of death.

Life and breath,

Moving and awakening slumbering, sleeping

Shepherds and sinners, crying, weeping,

Longing for something or someone,

Yearning for the dawning sun

To drive away the clinging night

To give our clouded eyes clear sight,

To see beyond what we cannot change,

With hope that it can somehow be rearranged —

To reflect glory

With allegory

Of struggle and victory

Of clarity and mystery

Of chaos and harmony

Of mundane and enormity

Of calm and tempest-tossed,

To declare that all is not lost.

Immanuel, God is with us

With Good News treasonous

To false messiahs

And lying desires

Declaring that God has heard our cries

And He has come to baptize

Us in His Spirit

And to inhabit

Our innermost and darkest places

With truth and love that replaces

My shame and guilt.

Reframed, rebuilt

A clear reflection

Of God’s affection,

Free to love as we are loved,

Dishonor and disgrace removed,

Now empowered to be His ambassadors

To embody His love and to implore

The lost and exiled

All to be reconciled —

To this God who has come to dwell

Here with us, Immanuel.