What Song Is This?

What bothers me about Christmas is that legally in the Anglican-Episcopal church we are not to sing Christmas Carols until the actual day arrives. And on that day, we can blast out all the beautiful songs we learned from birth, usually not even having to use the Hymnal. 

Yet, what has been designated as the real holy Christmas season is so brief - from the 25th of December to Epiphany on January 6 (that’s 13 days)— that once the gifts are open and the families have dispersed again, back to home or work, there isn’t much thrill in singing those beautiful songs. It’s over. We are out of the Christmas mood. The tree has been picked up by the city garbage collector.  And the angels, the camel riders, the cattle and sheep, the curious, and whatever midwives who were in the holy scene have moved on. I wonder if Joseph helped to deliver this child Jesus or if, more than likely, there were midwifes present and expected to do the job. (We don’t know this answer but trust the tradition.)  Truly, I suspect, the family they visited for the census taking probably didn’t anticipated the arrival of the spectacular kings who were bringing gifts to honor the new born King. 

When Advent (which has about 12 songs for those four Sundays relating to the warnings, the pre-preparation) was a time when the mothers to-be of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ hung out together until John was born, then Mary probably left, having to depend on Joseph to find a safe place for her to give birth to this holy Son of God. She knew her blessing and task to be.  No one else really knew. But we have in our minds that there was always no room in the inns or places in which they tried to stop for the night. The calloused innkeeper, who is never mentioned in the Bible, didn’t participate in the birth setting. And the holy couple was not dashing in on a donkey with Mary about to birth the baby within seconds. She had just spent time with her cousin, and they had traveled probably by donkey to Bethlehem to join family there for the census. 

Luke, probably the most accurate of the four gospel writers, wrote that they laid the baby Jesus in a manger because there was no space for them in “the guest room.” It is probable there was no inn in Bethlehem, which was not necessarily a thriving city in those days. Luke wrote that there was no space in the “kataluma” - which in Greek meant the guest room of a house. (Luke also used that word kataluma to describe the room where the Last Supper was held.) If he was describing an inn, he would have used the word “pandocheon”. which refers to lodgings used by travelers. 

Since it was a time when the census was being taken, everyone had to returned to their original home and probably had to stay with relatives if they didn’t have a real home to go to. So it seems the holy couple had to bunk up with Joseph’s or Mary’s relatives. That meant the homeowner had to prepare a room for Mary’s birth moment. More than likely, we are told, that was in the lower part of the house where animals stayed. Surely, as was the norm, there were midwives who helped birth the baby Jesus, but we are not sure if the angles were singing in the sky at that moment. And since there was no “Christianity”, there were no hymnals filled with beautiful songs to be sung.

I also learned, when studying in Jerusalem, that at that time of the year, shepherds were not out in the night with their flock but were in barns or stone caves or basements where sheep and cattle would spend the night during winter. But one of my favorite carols is “While Shepherds watched their flock by night all seated on the ground” says different. It really doesn’t matter. A song is a song to delight.
 
In Advent, the four Sundays prior to Jesus’ birth, while Mary was getting ready with her cousin there have been created songs of preparation to warn sleepers and Jerusalem they need to awaken and be prepared - like “Prepare the way O Zion.” Of course, all these hymns and songs were written after the establishment of the church. And we are asked to sing beautiful songs like “Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free.” Or 
“Let every hill and valley a level way appear” or “A peace will come to Jerusalem, “as if Jesus declares the peace that waits for them in Jerusalem after He was birthed in Bethlehem. For sure, we need to sing “Rejoice Rejoice.” There are so many which were written looking back years later, but not from being present at the birth. My favorite Advent hymn is “On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry, announces that the Lord is night”. 

 By Christmas Day, we surely have our ears filled with Here Comes Santa Claus, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and all those modern songs we peddle to our children to keep Christmas not only a fun time filled with characters but anticipating that day when they learn the real truth about Christmas - the birth of our savior, the foundation of our faith, the hope we have for life everlasting.

Only on Christmas Eve at midnight are the Christmas carols legit to sing in the Church. There are 39 songs in the Hymnal for Christmas Eve/Day and one or two more Sundays, almost impossible to get all those wonderful carols in before the season ended. This year Christmas Day was on a Saturday - so that weekend we could flood our hearts with Christmas carols for two days. But, sadly, we only have two Sundays to sing those songs of faith from the Hymnal. And if I had my choice, I’d leap into and sing daily “What Child Is This?” which dances in my heart every Christmas.

 ~ Rev

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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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