Reading W.H. Auden through Advent and Christmas
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or the past couple of years, as part of my observance of Advent and Christmas I’ve made it my practice to read W.H. Auden’s cycle of poems, For the Time Being: a Christmas Oratorio. I’d love to give it a wide open commendation, but as it is a fairly lengthy (in my edition, it runs just over 50 pages) and substantial work, I feel it is only fair to be a bit more nuanced here.
Auden takes the reader through the whole cycle of the seasonal biblical stories, and at the same time walks you through from the opening days of Advent through to the packing up of all of the holiday stuff at the end of the 12 days of Christmas. He tells the familiar story, but somehow it is as much about the social context in which he wrote the cycle, that of the Second World War. At times you wonder where he’s going and what he’s writing about… and then there will be a line or a stanza or a whole section that simply stops you in your tracks with its breathtaking insight.
affinity for the witness and message of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, it did not escape his notice that this visit to our community came on the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night on which good German citizens – most of whom would have comfortably self-identified as Christians and church-goers – took to the streets to attack Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues.
he modern world has been unsure what to do with the biblical texts around the world of the demonic, and has often swung between total unbelief and a kind of unhealthy over belief. This session of 
on Sunday, November 9. The irrepressible Mike Koop selected five different Dylan songs that he thought would work in the context of worship, and then assembled a fine ensemble of saint ben’s musicians to lead us in finding our collective voice with this material. You can take a look at a great reflection on the evening by Brother Maynard at his