Joseph 
Hush-a-bye, you baby Jesus, cradled so contentedly,
are you really the Messiah born to set our people free?
Will you one day raise an army challenging the rule of Rome,
so that Israel’s sons at last shall see our sovereign kingdom come?
Or, with intellect and wisdom, keen debate and turn of phrase,
will your light reveal the Scriptures, speak God’s truth and teach his way

I am but a humble craftsman; calloused hands have I, and rough:
hands for making tables, doors - a cattle stall, a manger trough.
I can carve a yoke so easy that your load will seem but light, 
form a cross to hang a felon, tortured to eternal night.
How can I, no man of letters, lacking leadership and grace, 
rear this child so pure and holy destined to redeem our race?

Carpentry is practical and not concerned with heavenly schemes,
but the Lord of oak and cedar challenged my most manly dreams.
While I tossed in anxious sleep, an angel hovered by my bed
with a message from Jehovah. This is what the spirit said:
"Joseph, wed your sweetheart, Mary; she is pure, her child, divine,
for the babe conceived within her is no other son than Mine!"

Word of God that fired creation, called to birth the cosmic sky,
power beyond imagination swaddled in an infant’s cry!
Who am I to ask or question why the King of Heaven above
chose to cradle this, his Firstborn, in a cattle feeding trough?
So, as angels chorused, “Glory, hallelujah, Christ is come!”
you lay snuggled in your hay bed, blinked your eyes and sought your thumb.

Kings and priests for generations longed to sire the Promised One,
but the God of Israel chose this carpenter to raise his son!
I can teach you all I know of timber – splinter, plank and grain;
I will show you how to handle saw and hammer, lathe and plane.
Now you’re just a tiny fellow; soon you’ll grow to be a lad;
I shall be so proud if you will take my hand and call me ‘Dad’.

What if you become the Prophet, leaving bench and tools behind,
teaching us to love the Lord with heart and soul and strength and mind?
- I’m confused and apprehensive, but I worship God with fear
and I trust Him with the future till He makes His purpose clear.
Such a privilege: to be your guardian in God's holy plan!
Here I pledge my life to serve you, Child and Master, God and Man.

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Jane Porter

God doesn’t always call us to travel far or do spectacular things for Him. Joseph was an ordinary working class man, attentive enough to God’s leading to think and act quite radically outside the social laws of his day. Believing the impossible, he took to his heart a woman whom the leaders of his faith would have had publicly stoned to death; my poem finds him pondering over this challenge.

I like to think that Joseph gave the very best of what skills he had to provide for Mary and to nurture and honour this strange Child he could not claim as his own, serving God in an intimate and unique way. Joseph’s response to God’s command is a timeless example to us of humble obedience and service.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Jane Porter...This script is protected by copyright law. I believe however that this script is a blessing from God and is meant to be shared with others. Authorisation is given by the author, Jane Porter, to print off this script for non-commercial use, provided that all material remains complete and intact in its original form. Reprinting for resale, in any form, is prohibited.