the light-up model country church

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the light-up model country church

Surely inside the minister has pressed
his Christmas khakis and the impact of 
the virgin birth. Bill Jones imagines what 
a world redeemed would look like: corn above
his head, round beats as purple as a king’s
cloak, and perhaps the birds won’t peck. The pews
are full, the children sucking candy canes 
imagining the shepherds, humming tunes 
beneath their breath from last night’s Christmas play. 

Surely there’s candlelight around the table of 
the sacrament, 
                    
                       and in the back a boy 
who’s staring at the nativity carved
from maple wood, set up beneath the tree
behind the pastor, imagining a place
of wood and hay and angel song where he 
is sitting beside a manger—
                                         and surely the hay is fresh.

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