During this time of the year, I still become nostalgic for the English Christmases I once enjoyed. Many, many, many years ago, I was a student at Cambridge University in England. The campus is gorgeous. Miles and miles of oak paneled corridors with well-worn flagstone floors connect the college’s ancient and beautiful buildings. Every year, just before Christmas break, the Big Sisters (the older female students) knocked on the doors of the little sisters (the freshmen girls they mentored) in the middle of the night. Soon a great procession of some four hundred or more girls, all dressed in white night gowns and each carrying a candle, would begin to walk those old, hallowed halls. For an hour or two we wound our way up and down the corridors of that ancient campus, singing Christmas carols.
Needless to say, for a college full of women, most of whom never went to church, singing Christmas carols was difficult! Due to the religious traditions of England and of the college, most of us were familiar with the carols, but only the first verse or so. Fortunately, someone had made copies of one of the carols—“O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Every so often, the leader would begin this carol, and we all felt secure singing it all the way through because we actually had the words to more than one verse.
I was caught up in the atmosphere of the surroundings, and in those moments I was overwhelmed with a sense of Jesus. My heart was opening up to the possibility of Jesus. We came to verse three of the carol:
How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given,
So God imparts to human hearts,
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
I clutched my candle tightly, and I suppose I began to pray; although since I had never felt personal about my prayers, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. But my soul was saying: What do these words mean? What would it mean to “enter in”? How could it be? If only someone would tell me what it means.
You see, I was like one of those shepherds in the Christmas story—I’d always had a low self-esteem and an incredible need to fit in and be accepted. I was also a bit like Mary and Joseph—I’d just broken up an engagement.
But that night, God the Father walked down the staircase of Heaven with a baby in His arms, and I began to understand. God began leading me to my Bethlehem. Actually, I arrived at Bethlehem sometime later, in a hospital room, but the words of that carol opened my soul to the reality of Christmas.
Have you been to the manger, to Bethlehem, yet? What do you believe about the Christ child? Will you come to a new understanding of Christmas this year?
A manger holds the secret for a world of fear and doubt,
A baby boy lies in the hay, now what’s that all about?
Well, the Bible says that God is Christ came down to make a way,
So we could have sins forgiven and go to heaven one day.
How could God lie unvisited while Beth’lem passed on by,
And people that first Christmas ignored a baby’s cry?
Well, they were busy partying and seeing family,
So what’s the difference in our world of neglect and apathy?
The shepherds did their best to tell the world and do their part.
They met Him in the manger, and they let Him have their heart.
And kings that came to worship and risk King Herod’s fury
Returned to tell their land of Him and His salvation story.
So, why not bring your mind to bear on God’s great gift of grace,
And as you watch sweet Mary wipe the tears from His face,
Resolve to seek with all your soul the Christ who gave it all,
The gift of Incarnation within that cattle stall.
Lord, may we travel to Bethlehem, like those shepherds, and meet you at the manger of our hearts. Amen.
