Four Calling Birds

 

       Have you ever seen the night sky in all of its glory without being washed out by all of our lights? I've only glimpsed it once out a car window while driving back to Santan Valley from The Grand Canyon in Arizona. It was a very small glimpse, and I know even then I didn't see half of it. I wish I'd rolled down the window and put my head out. I wish now that in spite of the ungodly hour and the distance we had too drive, I had begged my friend to stop the car for just a few moments there, so I could really see.

        I think I was just too exhausted and sunburned to care enough at that point. I wish I'd exerted myself. Lord willing I'll have a second opportunity. However, that little glimpse made me wonder, what must the Christmas star have looked like to the magi to stand out in the night sky among all of those dazzling ones? We know that they didn't exactly follow the star as some songs would like to indicate. They saw his star in the east, they said, and had come to worship him. Most people suspect that they came from Babylon and were successors of Daniel who prophesied about the Messiah...hence their arrival in Jerusalem.

       Yes, we know they didn't follow the star because when they finally made it to Bethlehem, it seems the star appeared again, and yes, in this case the song is right, it was "right over the place where Jesus lay." They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy to see it, Matthew says. What a sight that must have been.

        I have come to the conclusion that to try to explain it as some conjunction of planets or some coincidental placement of an especially bright star seems rather ludicrous in this case since it's rather hard to ever claim that a star is settled directly over a house...the moment you change position, it will be over someone else's house. Therefore, what can we conclude, but that the appearance of the star itself was a miraculous event? And why not? A virgin conceived, Angels descended on a group of Shepherds, why not an exceptional star to announce the incarnation of The infinite Creator become finite to save His creation?

      I don't think I need to say more that. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a great love in my heart for African American Spirituals. They are a highly underrated genre of traditional music, and surprisingly, too, while some of them do take some theological liberties, most of them are extremely accurate scripturally, while coming from a place of humility and simplicity. Those African American slaves, persecuted and despised as they were, turned to the Lord and the Scriptures for refuge, and out of that poured some of the most magnificent folk songs ever to be created. Yet another reason to love them.

      Thus, I couldn't let this season pass without introducing you to another beautiful Christmas Spiritual. I know in previous years I've shared "Shout For Joy." Which is a lot of fun both to listen to and sing, this one is much more slow and solemn, still enjoyable but in a different way. I'll let you make up your own mind, though.

           

Refrain:
Behold the star!
Behold the star up yonder!
Behold the star!
It is the star of Bethlehem.

1 There was no room found in the inn,
It is the star of Bethlehem,
For Him who was born free from sin.
It is the star of Bethlehem. [Refrain]

2 The wise men came from the East,
It is the star of Bethlehem,
To worship Him, the "Prince of Peace."
It is the star of Bethlehem. [Refrain]