4 Calling Birds

 

       I guess because the Bible talks about Shepherds being in the fields "that night" keeping watch over their flocks, a lot of people just assumed that Jesus was born in the dead of night. Maybe he was. Maybe there wasn't any space to lay him in the inn because they got there late and it was all packed out for the night. Then again, maybe there wasn't any space because the emperor had just decreed everyone back to his home city and the little town of Bethlehem was suddenly bursting at its seams. 

        The fact remains, we really don't know at what time Jesus was born, yet Christ's mass was traditionally held at midnight, and people over the centuries have made all sorts of prognostications regarding the ungodly hour at which Jesus entered the world to save us.

        Not least of these is one of my favorite secular Christmas carols, "Past Three A Clock."

        It implies, at very least, that Jesus was born so late that it was early in the morning. Those of us who have spent significant time studying church history know that Christmas Eve is when Christ is traditionally supposed to have been born while Christmas day is the celebration of the event that has already come. 

This song pushes the birth out until three on Christmas morning. Now, the argument could be made that He was born earlier and the the Proclaimer of said tidings in the spirit of the song, didn't get out there until Three A.M. 

However it is, I find it highly amusing that the song is centered around this very equivocal point.

Be that as it may, I do love the carol and while I wouldn't approve of including it in a church service, I enjoy singing it for fun on other occasions, usually by myself in the woods. My favorite version of this song is, and will probably always be, the first way I heard it, through the crystal voices and clarion harmonies of The Colonial Singers of Williamsburg. 

Let me know if this song gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day!

1. Born is a Baby,
Gentle as may be,
Son of the eternal
Father supernal.

2. Seraph quire singeth,
Angel bell ringeth;
Hark how they rime it,
Time it and chime it. Refrain.

3. Mid earth rejoices
Hearing such voices
e'ertofore so well
Carolling Nowell. Refrain.

4. Hinds o'er the pearly,
Dewy lawn early
Seek the high Stranger
Laid in the manger. Refrain.

5. Cheese from the dairy
Bring they for Mary
And, not for money,
Butter and honey. Refrain.

6. Light out of star-land
Leadeth from far land
Princes, to meet him,
Worship and greet him. Refrain.

7. Myrrh from full coffer,
Incense they offer;
Nor is the golden
Nugget withholden. Refrain.

8. Thus they: I pray you,
Up, sirs, nor stay you
Till ye confess him
Likewise and bless him. Refrain.

   Not all of these verses are included in this version. Verses one, four, five, six, and eight seem to be, universally, the most popular ones, though the rest of the verses are fun as well. 

Imagine this sung out in the streets and taverns of England around Christmastime. They could relate with the cold, frosty morning. They understood what it meant to pay homage to a newborn king. This song was their song. We don't know who wrote it, but whoever did, wrote in a language the common people of that time could understand: A king is born, give Him honor because He is worthy.

        Until tomorrow, then!

               ~ Christianna