O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

almost secret

place hard

to see

and find unexpected

or regarded

hiddenness revealed

God from the darkness

Too full, blind

Bethlehem be emptied

 by the stall –

shepherds with angel message find

the treasure

child and mother, patron there

low but highest,

peace and favor

for all who

before him bow