The Eight Carol of Christmas
On the whole it's quite harmless. Snow is a beautiful medium by which to remember Christ's birth. So, tonight I share with you a snowy carol, one of my favorites, with a different tune from what most of you are probably used to hearing. However, it's not the tune of "In the Bleak Midwinter" I wish you to notice tonight, as much as the actual words once one gets past the first verse!
Especially notice the second verse:
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
I imagine one of my brothers building a lego house and then trying to fit inside...the house would fly into pieces very quickly. However Christ deigned to squash Himself into a little lego block of a baby in a tiny manger to save us who had rebelled against Him....this, my friends, is what love looks like, and because of this we owe Him the greatest thing we have; our hearts. Not because He made a statute, not because He'll punish us if we don't, but we ought to do it because He loved us and we can do nothing else but love Him back.
Enjoy this rendition of Christiana Rossetti's Poem by Harold Darke.
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him... give my heart.
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him... give my heart.
Indeed, what can we give Him this season, poor as we are? The one thing we posses and the one thing He asks; Our hearts.
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