The night was not so silent:
In the bustling streets
Crowds pushed and poked
With shoving elbows and trampling feet
Men cursed
Dust choked
Indifferent to a woman heavy with child
In desperate need of a place to sleep
The little town was not so still:
It’s streets and houses overflowing
With one night standers, out of towners
Compelled together by Roman decree
Eager to reclaim their normality
The shrill shouts of merchants intertwined
With the noise and smell of humanity
For trade was brisk and coins flowed free
The virgin mother was not so peaceful:
Her young face etched with pain and fear
On her lips a voiceless prayer
Her womb, its patience spent,
Pushing, heaving, stretching,
Sharply signalling its intent
Amid the turmoil of the dung strewn street
To expel her child right then and there
The Child’s face was not so radiant:
Stained with the blood of newborn birth
Tender untouched flesh
Trembling in the sudden cool
Untried lungs gasping earthly air
A cattle trough to lay his head
His holy Presence barely noted
By passing crowds with minds elsewhere
The world was not so joyful:
No shining golden trumpets
Heralded this King’s advent
No pushy journalists jostled for a view
Or flashing cameras recorded the event
Just a few poor peasant shepherds
Whose witness was devoid of worth
The world too busy to pause and ponder
Another common Jewish birth
SO….for just a brief few moments:
Can we put aside the Christmas cards
With their sparkling pretty nativities?
Can we forget about turkey and tinsel
To confront our sad reality?
Can the man in the jolly red suit sit down
And the merchants cease their endless clatter?
Can the social networks take a break
From their numbing and distracting chatter?
Can the politicians just for once
Step back from their cherished limelight?
Can the Christmas lights all be dimmed
And the tree forego its dazzling spotlight?
For unto us this Child was born
And unto us this Son was given
This Holy Prince of Peace
This God of Living Light
Stands amidst our frantic frenzy
This noisy chaos we use to disguise
That we’re really running all on empty
We need Him now as we did then
When first He came to dwell with men
Let’s take one united collective breath
For just a single shining moment
Let towns and cities be at rest
And let the starry night be silent
Let’s ask the questions we can’t forget
Let’s weep for what we lost
As we kneel to worship God made flesh
And wonder why He loves us yet !
© Cheryl McGrath, Bread for the Bride, 2014 and beyond Copyright Notice: Permission is granted to freely reproduce any Bread for the Bride articles in emails or internet blogs, unaltered, and providing this copyright notice is included. To permanently display an article on any static website please contact me for permission.
Oh my Cheryl – this is wonderful. I love your real view of that first Christmas. It truly amplifies the immense condescension of our Lord when He left His glorious seat at the right hand of the Father and took His place in the womb of Mary.
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Thanks Ben. We tend to forget what that first nativity must really have been like in a practical sense. And yes, I agree, we need sometimes to be reminded that our Christmas cards don’t really tell the right story in order to more deeply appreciate the wonder of His incarnation. Enjoy your Christmas Ben. I look forward to more of your wonderful posts in 2016.
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Thank you Cheryl.
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Wow. Very good! Christmas has become so commercialized and you really nailed it. Praise be to God for the birth of our Savior. Merry Christmas, Cheryl.
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Thankyou Sue, and may your Christmas also be joyful and happy.
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