102 - Christmas

1. Once in royal David's city

stood a lowly cattle shed,

where a mother laid her baby

in a manger for his bed:

Mary was that mother mild,

Jesus Christ her little child.

2. He came down to earth from heaven,

who is God and Lord of all,

and his shelter was a stable,

and his cradle was a stall;

with the poor, the scorned, the lowly,

lived on earth our Savior holy.

3. We, like Mary, rest confounded

that a stable should display

heaven's Word, the world's creator,

cradled there on Christmas Day,

yet this child, our Lord and brother,

brought us love for one another.

4. For he is our lifelong pattern;

daily, when on earth he grew,

he was tempted, scorned, rejected,

tears and smiles like us he knew.

Thus he feels for all our sadness,

and he shares in all our gladness.

5. And our eyes at last shall see him,

through his own redeeming love;

for that child who seemed so helpless

is our Lord in heaven above;

and he leads his children on

to the place where he is gone.

6. Not in that poor lowly stable,

with the oxen standing round,

we shall see him; but in heaven,

where his saints his throne surround:

Christ, revealed to faithful eye,

set at God's right hand on high.

Words: Sts 1-2 and 4-6 Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), alt.; st, James Waring McGrady (b. 1938) Music: Irby, melody Henry John Gauntlett (1805-1876); harm. Arthur Henry Mann (1850-1929)