The good news captured in a poem

Dear Friends in Christ -
The old master poets really had a way with words, expressing truth in words of beauty. Someone at St. Paul's shared this poem with me this week, and I wanted to share it with you.
Counting down the hours until we gather 'round the manger . . .
faithfully,
Janet+

ANNUNCIATION

Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
in prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He will wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceivst, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
Thou has light in dark, and shutst in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.

John Donne (1572 - 1631)