As I considered the carol for today, as well as listening to an exhorbitant number of interpretations on youtube, looking for one that I wanted, I realized that this might be one of the simplest, most straightforward presentations of the gospel I have ever encountered in a Christmas carol.
Written in Gaelic by Mary MacDougal of Scotland, this three stanza carol feels at first like a set of cliche, overly wrung, trite Christian phrases, but as I read over Lachlan Macbean's translation, a sense of the song's true significance struck me for the first time.
I've heard and played this carol multiple times over the past several years, but I always considered it rather basic. I guess it is basic, the gospel, that is. Take a look at the words:
Child in the manger, infant of Mary,
Outcast and stranger, Lord of all;
Child who inherits all our transgressions,
All our demerits on Him fall.
Once the most holy Child of salvation
Gently and lowly lived below;
Now, as our glorious, mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious o’er each foe.
Prophets foretold Him, infant of wonder,
Angels behold Him on His throne;
Worthy our Savior of all our praises;
Happy forever are His own.
It's as simple as that. What is the gospel? Literally translated as "good news," the gospel is that God became man born of a woman, a virgin, lived a perfect life and died the death of a criminal, taking upon himself the transgressions of all of those who are His. He rose from the dead, victorious over death and every sin, and he now sits at the right hand of the Father to make intersession for us.
In a nutshell, that, friends, is the gospel. Christmas is the epicenter of all that, the "incarnation," if we were to speak Christianese, and it seems to me that there is no more fitting occasion on which to sing of the gospel than at Christmastime.
In the end, this might be one of my favourite discoveries this year. I had originally put it in as one of the carols I needed for a filler because finding twelve unique Christmas carols isn't always the easiest task in the world, especially as my pool gets smaller each year I do this. However, it turns out I needed this one not just as a filler, but as an essential piece.
I needed to be reminded about the gospel, about the beauty of it and its simplicity. I needed to see the full picture clearly again.
As you listen to this very quiet, minimalist rendition, may it fill your mind afresh and may you bring God glory in it. May He receive all the glory for sending the Word to become flesh and dwell among us.
I'll see you tomorrow for something even more poignant!
~ Christianna
1 comments:
Google Duke Lessons and Carols pdf and you can find a treasure trove of old programs with carols galore! You could probably do the same for the one at Kings College. BTW - did you know that the first "Lessons and Carols" was a gospel outreach? Before the cathedral was built, the first one was held in a temporary building close to the taverns and pubs to draw people out.
I still have my paper program from Lessons and Carols at Duke that I attended in 2013. This song reminds me of this verse from "Once in Royal David's City":
He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall;
With the poor, the scorned, the lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.
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