O Antiphons Outside Advent

O Antiphons outside Advent

They stole the sign-

Arbeit Macht Frei

(work sets you free).

Where is the O Antiphon

To chorus through such misery?

A root of Jessie to break soil

And entangle such theft.

Are Wiseman afoot  making

Way to the scene?

Will it show up in someone’s

Basement to shameful to see

Sunlight outside

Its original mooring?

Will it be returned

No questions, to the gate?

Will it show up as a selfie on Facebook?

A rite of passage that needs no reminding.

O come O come Emanuel and ransom captive….

When I wrote the above poem I wondered how I would connect the stolen sign at Auschwitz with Christian preparation music in Advent. I see the sign as remembrance and ask:  How can someone steal it? It has been stolen before. I thought about the root of Jessie coming to the aid of the Jews. Wise men awake and always on the move, not necessarily for the baby Jesus but alive to retrieve the sign over a death camp. And finally: O come O come Emanuel and ransom captives not yet born some dead three quarters of a century.

The selfies Jewish kids take at  death camps bothers me but maybe it makes them feel alive. I see the three kings as avengers first not just worshipers.

ESPOUSED

I have been called to this place to espouse. To espouse what exactly? Those falsehoods that abound in advertising. Just recently I read that we don't need advertising and I wonder if that is the result of the permeation of many falsehoods. That what we see in bold print is not true and we are too tired to read the fine print. Big is good and small is bad. That is what advertising on TV begets. On radio the small print is the fast voice like a grease eraser over ink. Why am I called to espouse on this? I don't see myself as a prophet of truth. If the medium is the message then that straight path John the Baptist speaks of are now massive switch backs that lead to nowhere. TIVO helps to rush through ads. and if I stop to read the fine print it is covered by some timeline on the TIVO. The ads. that make me most angry are about drugs, they work off of the fear and pain of the viewer. I see a scale that weighs the emotion and risk of belonging. The good life of breathing better MAYBE or performing sexually MAYBE. Pharmaceuticals see it as a good risk for the patient. Wheres the doctor in all this? The ad. will make me seem smart to go to my doctor with this information. There are full page ads. in the paper for cellphones and buying shoes to watch on TV. Yet the paper can only have one local editorial and one national. I have said to many people just follow the money. These companies want us to pay to be healthy, pay to be connected. Just this week Anhausier  Busch  bought a local brewery There are no choices. Follow that stream of beer back to it source. We can complain to Congress but they are so far away. We have Facebook that keeps churning stories but do they go anywhere? No. I am the kid in the crowd in the Emperor's New Cloths. He is naked but nobody notices. He had good ad. men and power. But he is still naked.
The soap box on the street corner lasted longer than the pony express. I got educated away from the box and onto the fast moving horse. Now we get instant messaging and junk in our mail box. no taking pliers to the TV to change the station There were no gigs in the Magnovox. Truth telling does not make it right. Being caught in a lie does not me you are wrong you just got caught. Do I want the drug that might help or risk the consequences? Unsure? They can mail you a sample.