We bring into the church the evergreen,
Fresh boughs of trees that last all winter long.
And as we place them round, we sing a song
About peace on earth, goodwill to men.
We set them up to decorate, it seems,
To bring some festive Christmas cheer along.
The boughs remind us of the ancient Yule log
Our ancestors once burned for the year’s end.
But more is happening than might appear.
We bring the Green Man into the Church,
And not in stone, but in the trees themselves,
To Winter with us at the end of the year,
To bring with him not just pines, but elm and birch,
Creation comes to see the baby dwell.
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We hope you will join us in The Imaginative Conservative community. The Imaginative Conservative is an online journal for those who seek the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. We address culture, liberal learning, politics, political economy, literature, the arts and the American Republic in the tradition of Russell Kirk, T.S. Eliot, Edmund Burke, Irving Babbitt, Wilhelm Roepke, Robert Nisbet, Richard Weaver, M.E. Bradford, Eric Voegelin, Christopher Dawson, Paul Elmer More, and other leaders of Imaginative Conservatism. Some conservatives may look at the state of Western culture and the American Republic and see a huge dark cloud which seems ready to unleash a storm that may well wash away what we most treasure of our inherited ways. Others focus on the silver lining which may be found in the next generation of traditional conservatives who have been inspired by Dr. Kirk and his like. We hope that The Imaginative Conservative answers T.S. Eliot’s call to “redeem the time, redeem the dream.” The Imaginative Conservative offers to our families, our communities, and the Republic, a conservatism of hope, grace, charity, gratitude, and prayer.
The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay and has been brightened slightly for clarity.
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