keep your lamps trimmed and burning

LOOK: Look forward to the coming of God by Stanley Fung

Fung, Stanley_Look forward to the coming of God — Stanley Fung (馮君藍) (Chinese, 1961–), *期待上帝* (Look forward to the coming of God), 2002. Digital print on Hahnemühle fine art paper, 100 × 67.5 cm. [for sale]

LISTEN: “Keep Your Lamps,” African American spiritual | Performed by Cantus on That Eternal Day (2010)

Keep your lamps trimmed and a-burnin’
Keep your lamps trimmed and a-burnin’
Keep your lamps trimmed and a-burnin’
For this ol’ world is almost gone

Brothers, don’t get weary . . .
This ol’ world is almost gone

Sisters, don’t stop prayin’ . . .
This ol’ world is almost gone

Christian, your journey soon will be over . . .
The time is drawing nigh

Keep your lamps trimmed and a-burnin’ . . .
The time is drawing nigh

This post is part of a daily Advent series from December 2 to 24, 2023 (with Christmas to follow through January 6, 2024). View all the posts here, and the accompanying Spotify playlist here.

Face to face with our limits,
Blinking before the frightful
Stare of our frailty,
Promise rises
Like a posse of clever maids
Who do not fear the dark
Because their readiness
Lights the search.
Their oil
Becomes the measure of their love,
Their ability to wait—
An indication of their
Capacity to trust and take a chance.
Without the caution or predictability
Of knowing day or hour,
They fall back on that only
Of which they can be sure:
Love precedes them,
Before it
No door will ever close.

This poem by Thomas J. O’Gorman appears, untitled, in The Advent Sourcebook (Liturgy Training Publications, 1988) and is published here with O’Gorman’s permission. He told me he suggests the title “Clever Maids.”

The Wise Virgins icon by George Kordis (Greek, 1956–), pictured above, is sold, but the artist has seven signed, limited-edition giclée prints available; contact him through his website if interested.

Tag: keep your lamps trimmed and burning

Advent, Day 9: Lamps

“Clever Maids” by Thomas J. O’Gorman