The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
December 20, 2009
Vol. 12 No. 49

Everything But...

Three years now running I have received a small envelope from England, a Christmas card of the old school. It is from my teacher Sebastian Brock, hand made and inscribed, even the envelope is addressed in simple pen and ink - “Very Happy Christmas & 2010” in coloured letters with a few flowers around the edge.

There is usually a brief personal greeting, but the treat for the recipient are several short poetic lines, one side in Sebastian’s elegant Syriac calligraphy, and on the other side the English translation. Obscure Syriac poets proclaiming the event of Christmas: this year the lines are by Jacob of Serugh, died 521.

“On this day a Healer has come
to all who are fractured,
giving support, binding up,
sustaining and restoring
by His care.”

A few spare words say it better than the volumes of sermons, TV specials and commercials that overwhelm our grey matter at this season. That’s the beauty and mystery of poetry well composed, a word or two in the very right place, proclaiming that Jesus was in the very right place for us right now.

An ancient tradition is that Jesus was in the first instance a healer, a doctor of the soul. More than one who performed miraculous healings of the blind and lame, he healed what is broken inside of us.

Music and song soar where the mind often resists going. Let us listen to the lessons and carols and see which part of our soul they touch.