Barry's Blog

Just last weekend I made a trip back home, to my native state, North Carolina. Visiting good friends and family that I rarely get to see, and amazed at the snowy vistas in the countryside as I listened to some memorable Christmas music.Yes, there was the standard fare that we are accustomed to at this festive time of the year when most of us have this sense of thanksgiving (perhaps even those who don't believe in God). And yet, there was this one Christmas carol that I found myself playing over and over. I can't ever seem to escape it, as it continues to work its magic of wonder and awe on me, evoking a profound sense of worship. The carol is titled, "In the Bleak Mid-Winter," recorded a few years ago by James Taylor. And as you may know, it comes to us from the British Christmas tradition, and is based on a traditional Celtic folk song.

What many people may not realize is that the melody to the hymn was composed by Gustav Holst (1874-1934), perhaps best know for his orchestral masterpiece, The Planets. Holst's melody, Cranham (named after the town in which it was written), was set to a poem written by English poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). "In the Bleak Mid-Winter "was first published in The English Hymnal in 1906, and has always been one of Holst's most popular compositions. The beauty and simplicity of the folk song greatly inspired Holst.

I am reminded that, as Johnson once said, "We don't need to be instructed so much as reminded," and never is this more true that at Christmastime, when we celebrate the wonder of the Incarnation. Immanuel, "God Is With  Us." May the hymn's lyrics serve as a personal meditation for each of us at this Christmastime.

"In the bleak mid-winter, the frosty wind did moan. The earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone. Snow on snow had fallen, snow on snow on snow. In the bleak mid-winter, oh, so long ago.

Angels and archangels, they have gathered there. Cherubim and seraphim, rising in the air. But only his mother, in her maiden bliss, worshipped the Beloved, with a mother's kiss.

Heaven cannot hold Him, or can earth sustain, heaven and earth shall fall away, when He comes to reign.

What then can I give Him, empty as I am. If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, oh, I would do my part. What then can I give Him, I must give my heart." 

Epiphany in the snow. Journeying back home. We all want to go back home, don't we? Deep down within us is this desire to find our true Home, the place we were made to dwell. May you and I come to have a deeper and more profound sense of God's love for us at this Christmastime.

"There fared a mother driven forth

Out of an inn to roam;

In the place where she was homeless

All men are at home.

The crazy stable close at hand,

With shaking timber and shifting sand,

Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand

Than the square stones of Rome."

"To an open house in the evening

Home shall men come,

To an older place than Eden

And a taller town than Rome.

To the end of the way of the wandering star,

To the things that cannot be and that are

To the place where God was homeless

And all men are at home." 

Extracts from the poem, "The House of Christmas," by G. K. Chesterton