Dangerous Epiphany

‘Twas the day of Epiphany and throughout the kirk

deacons, elders, even pastors were all hard at work.

Birthed in ad nauseam meetings of committees:

a welcome for savior with multiple strategies.

Isaiah and Micah were thoroughly consulted

protocol followed, messiah not insulted.

If truth were told, devoid of fears,

the strategy unchanged for thousands of years.

But that didn’t matter to the movers and shakers

who had long-acquiesced to the few belly-achers.

The church was now running like a well-oiled machine,

even though it no longer remembered the dream.

Just how it happened we can’t quite remember,

the only detail: six days past December.

The intercom buzzed: visitors of good cheer;

their accents revealed they were not from around here.

Against better judgment they were ushered inside,

their odor, their aura could not be denied.

Juan Carlos the name of one who sojourned,

then Achmed and Mico. Is your stomach churned?

The more it unfolded the crazier it was,

their story of following a star here because

a promise just born. They knew it was wild,

seeking our guidance to locate this child.

Notify the committee, for a rapid convening;

two items of agenda to discover the meaning

of these moon willow sultans and their way-bizarre tale.

Should we signal panic? Should the alarm siren wail?

Is it immigrant issues or a terrorists plot

that beg us to terminate this plan on the spot?

Cool heads prevail, a subversion is planned

to protect our dear children and our sacred land.

We’ll play right along with this ludicrous search

keeping all under wraps to protect state and church.

If indeed they discover this child in our midst,

the S.W.A.T. team will swoop in a lead-blanket blitz.

We’ll make the world safe. We’ll wipe out the danger

so we can return to life minus the stranger;

giving in to our angst, feeding our fears,

ignoring the Christ whose eyes fill with tears.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins