An Imaginative composition for Advent
by
Viola Larson
The huge feathered wing, the sixth and final one, sprang forward with a
ferocious speed nearly knocking the nearby angel into a different dimension.
The new creature tried covering his mouth with the new wing, but instead
managed to hit his forehead and cover one of his bulging eyes. The creature
was attempting to keep the strange air and movement in his mouth from
erupting. ‘Holy!” he cried. ‘Holy, Holy, Holy,” the noise just kept
spewing. Peeking out between the still ruffled feathers he spied a rather
dignified angel and hid behind her skirts. He looked out on the Holy One,
the Ever/Three Times Above, Beneath, Beyond, Close by, Eternal One. Still
the new created creature kept repeating, ‘Holy,” over and over, but quieter
until he learned to whisper. The dignified angel leaned down, patting him on
the head, and whispered back, ‘Be still.” ‘The Holy One is in council.”
The entire eternal realm was in suspense, waiting for the Holy One to finish
plans for a new dimension. Gabriel, breaking the silence, spoke to the other
creatures near him, ‘Whatever suns and planets, rivers and fish, gardens and
moles are, I would certainly like to know?” That was when the new creature
with the six wings found his new ears working extremely well. He heard tiny
sounds that ran together until they became a thunderous echoing whisper.
‘Milky Way, flower-buds, morels, nettles, dragonflies, blackberries,
islands,” the words went on and on swimming in and out of everything, but
coming from the Holy One, the Ever/Three Times Above, Beneath, Beyond, Close
by, Eternal One. Several small angels went running through the crowd of
older angels. They were laughing, chasing the words and singing them back
and forth to each other. But, suddenly a new word came clear and strong and
without any other word twinned with it. ‘Humanity!” Then silence. Awe. The
Holy one was silent, the creatures, winged and un-winged were silent. The
dimensions of eternity quivered with silence.
The dignified angel glanced at Gabriel’s face. ‘Something dark yet hidden is
sliding across your form,” she said softly. ‘How un-warm it is,” many of
the creatures murmured. The new angel hid all of his eyes with all of his
wings. The small angels sat down. ‘There is water on my face, I think it has
come from my eyes,” one of the small angels whispered to her companion. All
eyes turned to the Holy One the source of all-good. The Holy One trembled in
strength and seemed to possess a silence so deep it required a new name. The
angels pronounced it grief. Out of the deep silence, new words, a new song,
circled the eternal dimension. ‘Slain, before the foundations, slain before
the foundations,” the words rose and moved outward as if alive. The
creatures, the angels, did not understand. They longed to know the meaning
of the words.
When all the plans were laid, the blueprint perfect, they all stood at the
tip of the eternal dimension. The Holy One, the Ever/Three Times Above,
Beneath, Beyond, Close by, Eternal One, spoke. A great explosion occurred.
The Word spewed forth time and space and worlds and butterflies. Finally the
new angel, the Seraphim, got it right. He covered his face with two of his
wings and covered his feet with two of his wings, and flew using his final
two wings. He landed on the shoulders of the dignified angel and shouted
out, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy.” ‘Please,” she said, ‘My ears are still ringing
from the explosion.” ‘Go and stand by the Holy One,” she wisely admonished
him. ‘For that is your place.” She pushed him gently toward the altar of
embers burning beside the Holy One. As her hand felt the heat of the embers
she had a sudden impulse to pick up one and toss it out into time onto the
tiny new blue orb floating in the new dimension. ‘Wait!” said the Holy One,
‘without a mixture of merciful prayers, that would destroy that orb.’