Theme and Variations on a Carol of Incarnation

(I recently wrote this article for the Concoxions magazine "The Amalgam" and thought it might be a nice Christmas blog as well.)

Yes. I admit. I'm one of those people who will pull out a Christmas CD in July. Why save it all for Christmas Day? Every Christmas we hear the story of the Christ child told in the traditional carols we sing and the new versions pop artists always come out with. But just how well do these songs we all have memorized tell the story?
How many times have you sung and heard "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night"? Probably hundreds. Look again.

The cattle are lowing the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.

Holy infant so tender and mild.

Really? Was Jesus a sweet little child who never pooped his pants or cried for food? I doubt it. Jesus was a real baby. Babies cry to communicate. They keep their parents up half the night. They giggle and coo and scream. That baby had young scared, parents, who didn't know what to do with this new child. Mary was probably not ready to be a mom in her own mind, but God had chosen her. Mary, did you know? In first century Bethlehem, life for a young family would have been much harder than it is today. Being born in a manger isn't exactly the most ideal of situations. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. It would've been cold and uncomfortable for the baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. They had had a long, hard journey. Mary was exhausted, but being a Jewish woman about to give birth, an innkeeper wouldn't want to deal with the uncleanliness she brought. So Mary and Joseph were sent to the only fairly clean shelter around. A stable. No crib for a bed.
This baby boy was like any other yet so different from any other. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity! He was the one Son of God. He would one day reconcile the world to God. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. But until that day, he had to grow up like the rest of us. God became human to identify with us, to show how he stood with us. O come desire of nations, bind all peoples in one heart and mind. In this beautiful act of love, God, the creator of all the world, was himself recreated in flesh as a defenseless baby born to impoverished parents. Long desired behold him come, finding here His humble home.
The Christmas story is more than pretty Mary in a blue bathrobe with a quiet sleeping baby boy. It is more than angels singing gloooooooooooooooria. Christmas is the beginning of a story that has changed humanity forever. It is a story that affects you and me every moment of every day. So don't save it all for Christmas day.

Want to hear more on how the story might've really happened? Put off watching "Elf" and join in my new holiday tradition: watching "The Nativity Story." Christmas hasn't really started for me yet, because I haven't gotten to watch it. This movie puts your heart in a place to truly worship at Christmastime. Let all within us praise his holy name! (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.) The incarnation, God becoming human, becomes so real. You feel Mary's tentative strength and see Joseph's struggles. Not only is the story great, if you're into this sort of thing, the cinematography is first class. It is an all around beautiful movie. I definitely recommend it as new Christmas staple.


Lyrics taken from:
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Away in a Manger
Silent Night
O Little Town of Bethlehem
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Don't Save it All for Christmas Day
Mary Did You Know
O Holy Night
Angels We Have Heard on High
(Imagine them being sung in a voice much like Anna Ruffner's.)