Holding a hymnbook isn’t easy for tiny hands even if the spine is resting on the pew back. The three year olds may have learned to recognize their name and a STOP sign if their parents have really been focused, yet reading a whole page is not a possibility. The song this week is the one children know because it goes with rocking time, story time, or is part of a performance. Also what is more tender to all than a new baby. Away in a Manger tells the whole story. My favorite setting is to Flow Gently Sweet Afton. That tune seems to have a sway that the strong first beat lacks for me.
The lyrics tell the whole story and provide teaching in the untold places. A Christmas Eve manger helps children see it is not at all like their bedrooms, yet adults have done what they can to care for a new baby even as their parents do for them. If cattle are lowing, is it scary? Did Jesus really never cry? What better phrase to use than, “I love thee, Lord Jesus,” and be assured that that love is poured back on them. They learn to pray that Jesus be not only with them, but also with all their friends in His tender care. Truthfully. I like the upgrade to “fit us for heaven.” My childhood version was “take us to heaven” which put a damper on going to sleep.
I can see the shepherds coming in quietly. They had held baby lambs with the mothers nudging around to check on their offspring. Somehow children too know instinctively how to welcome a new baby. Maybe at some level, we wish we could have held a swaddled child. Our family has a video of a new great-great nephew brought home to older brothers. His mother put the two day old in a dough-nut on the couch with older ones at head and foot. We could hear a soft, “ooh.” as they settled in. Very slowly the three year old raised his hand and lowered it to barely cup the small head. Checking with his mother, he then bent over to bestow a welcome kiss. We too can remember the Christ of Calvary was once the Babe of Bethlehem. “Be with us Lord Jesus, we ask thee to stay close by us forever and love us we pray.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Luke 2:15 – 16
Let Me Tell Ya 