Vicky Allen brings us this beautiful poem for our final post in the Advent series ‘Into the Silence.’
On this Christmas Day may your heart swell with the same hope of those shepherds long ago whose silence was broken by “tidings of great joy.” And in your own places where silence seems now to pervade, may you know the reality of Emmanuel, God with us – the presence in the silence.

Merry Christmas from all of us at 24-7 Prayer Scotland!

Night did not quite hide
the wonder
as constellations scattered pin-prick lights
and human hearts gathered stories, songs
from their gleaming trails

far-off wise ones
gazing at far-off stars
plucked the strings
of history and hope

Night did not quite hide
the ordinary
cold damp air of a quiet hillside
sheep huddled ghost-like
in starlit gloom

Shepherd-guardians trading tales
low-voiced around sputtering fire
then rubbing tired, disbelieving eyes
as light, song displaced dark, stillness

Night could not quite hide
the transformation
a child, a family
an old, old story made new
for a fracturing world

the quiet of the night
cracking with cries
the stomach-drop of love
breaking fear into fragments

Night could not quite hide
the wonder, the ordinary, the transformation
the mundane birth-miracle
wrapped up in story
and promise

an unwrapping of hope before our eyes
and eternity turns upon
a child, a hillside, a star, a song

night is where silent surprises wait
and laughter comes like stars
singing Glory

Vicky Allen is a communications consultant for a small Scottish children’s charity, with a parallel passion for creativity in general and writing poetry in particular. She’s part of Discovery Church Dunbar, a young church plant which loves to meet in the wide open spaces of East Lothian’s coast and countryside as much as possible.

Crystal Cryer

Crystal Cryer originally hails from Oregon, but now claims Scotland as home. She is the National Coordinator for 24-7 Prayer Scotland. She is also part of the Prayer Spaces in Schools Scotland team as well as the Central Church family in Edinburgh, where she is based.