[Pearls Ep 151: Preparing for Christmas.]
Christmas Carols are so wonderfully familiar. The lyrics, short and few as they are, wash over us. We’re taken up with nostalgia as much as anything else, and often we inadvertently pay little attention to the unfolding of the lyrics.
But all the authentic Christmas carols (Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer need not apply…), because they are probing the Incarnation, are worthy of contemplation.
Which is the richest Christmas Carol for our interior life?
The First Noel? “Then let us all with one accord, Sing praises to our heavenly Lord, That hath made Heaven and earth of nought, And with his blood mankind hath bought.” It certainly captures the infinite and eternal grandeur of God.
O Holy Night? “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!” O Holy Night, at the other end of the spectrum from The First Noel, takes us into the depths of our soul.
A strong case can be made for O Little Town of Bethlehem as greater among equals. The first two stanzas paint the celestial picture similar to The First Noel. But then the third and fourth (and original final) stanzas descend to our soul with a depth and clarity beyond O Holy Night.
Not only that, but there are echoes of the Immaculate Conception in the original final stanza (not often sung, but reproduced below), “Where misery cries out to thee, Son of the undefiled” – who is “the undefiled” if not the Immaculately-conceived and perpetually-virgin Mother of God (in fact, this was something of a scandal for the Methodist composer who set the lyrics to music).
The bottom line is that O Little Town of Bethlehem exemplifies what makes all Christmas Carols great – each in their own way are elegant reminders that God, the Creator of the Universe (and Creator of each of us) – loves us to the point of becoming man, so that He could not only redeem us, but abide with us in our soul.
Christmas blessings –
Steve and Karen Smith
Interior Life
Postscript: O Little Town of Bethlehem
A lesser-known arrangement of the classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZhxG7-rJiY
A spirited a cappella delivery of the traditional melody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwfkGj51S2c
1 O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by;
yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
2 For Christ is born of Mary, and, gathered all above
while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wond’ring love.
O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth,
and praises sing to God the King and peace to all the earth.
3 How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heav’n.
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.
4 O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray,
cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
[the original final stanza]
Where children pure and happy, pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to thee, Son of the undefiled;
Where charity stands watching, and faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more.