Fully God and Fully Human

Jesus,

Whatever else beyond our comprehension he was,

Was born into the world an earthly being

The same way all the rest of us earthly beings were:

Between a woman’s legs,

With all the blood and feces and amniosis



And with all the screaming

And gasping for air

That birth entails.



For all his other human experiences

And his violent suffering bleeding death,

Why do we insist

On creating an inhumanly calm and sanitized

Nativity?



Written for Dr. Vitor Westhelle

Systematic Theology

Recently published in SIMUL, the anthology of Lutheran poetry.