{"id":3115,"date":"2013-12-21T23:16:33","date_gmt":"2013-12-22T04:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2013-12-21T23:16:33","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T04:16:33","slug":"the-holy-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/the-holy-child\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Child"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Christmas<\/a>Born in the night, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

a long way from your home.<\/p>\n

Coming in need, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/p>\n

born in a borrowed room.<\/p>\n

Clear shining light, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

your face lights up our way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Light of the world, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

dawn on our shadowed day.<\/em><\/p>\n

Truth of our life, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

you tell us God is good.<\/em><\/p>\n

Prove it is true, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

go to your cross of wood.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hope of the world, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

you\u2019re coming soon to reign.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sovereign of earth, Mary\u2019s Child,<\/em><\/p>\n

walk in our streets again.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 by Geoffrey Ainger<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

When God comes among us as a Child, the din of war and wrangling of wills, the roar of human working and whir of creaturely movements, the cries of laboring women and the groaning weariness of men, fall silent in the hush of hope that homes into the heart.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>The Child has no memories, no past.\u00a0 The Child is filled entirely with hope.\u00a0 And we, basking in the precious presence of the Child, are free to live in hope, which is the whole being and only fuel of the Child, whose tiny hands and bright eyes reach out to touch and taste the world, trusting it all.\u00a0 Nothing but a Child wants the world so entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n

For God to become a Child in our midst gives all of us the star-struck delight, cooing joy, and wonderment humans know in the presence of newborns.<\/span><\/p>\n

But God the Child requires all of us to be adults at Christmas.\u00a0 To be present to the Child requires us to be attentive, generous, loving, providing, protecting, caring.\u00a0 All the things newborns are not, we must be.\u00a0 Bending ourselves to the Child\u2019s survival.\u00a0 Making, in the midst of the world, a place for joy.\u00a0 A place for hope to thrive.\u00a0 A place for a future to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the Wonder World of God-the-Child cannot be found in wistful yearning for the past, for the Child does not belong to the past, nor does Christmas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>So often I long to be the one whom God will guide, protect, solace, love. \u00a0Yet Christmas does not offer me that role, which is God\u2019s alone at Christmas. \u00a0Ours, instead, are the so many choices \u2013 to be shepherds, not bustling innkeepers, Wise Men, not fools like Herod, angels of mercy, not soldiers of destruction, mothers of hope, fathers of kindness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christmas asks of us what Easter also asks:\u00a0 that we set aside our own suffering and sorrows, and all of our assumptions about the world and our place in it, and come to love a small light that is not our own, that will not stay forever but is here now, that is hungry and thirsty and, if we provide for it, will shine in our care.<\/span><\/p>\n

May we all find in Christmas a glimpse of holiness, heavenly and creaturely peace,\u00a0 a dearly beloved face, and something of the joy of angels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nativity<\/a>In winter when the birds put down their flutes\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

And wind plays sharper than a fife upon the icy rain,\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I sit in this crib,\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

And laugh like fire, and clap My golden hands:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

To view my friends the timid beasts-<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Their great brown flanks, muzzles and milky breath!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0.\u00a0 .\u00a0 .\u00a0 .\u00a0 come, shepherds, from your rocky hill,\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

And bend about My crib in wonder and adore My joy.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

My glances are as good as wine.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The little rivers of My smile\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Will wash away all ruins from your eyes .<\/em> \u2013<\/span>\u00a0Thomas Merton, from The Holy Child\u2019s \u00a0Song<\/span><\/p>\n

________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Illustrations:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. by Georges LaTour, 1634, Paris. \u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity School Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.<\/li>\n
  2. Baby Jesus in Manger,<\/strong><\/em> photo by Gina Carter, from the blog, Joe Catholic. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Adoration of the Three Kings,<\/strong> by Albrecht Durer, 1530, Basel, Switzerland. \u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity School Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.<\/li>\n
  4. Adoration of the Christ Child<\/strong><\/em>, Unknown Painter. \u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity School Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Born in the night, Mary\u2019s Child, a long way from your home. Coming in need, Mary\u2019s Child, born in a borrowed room. Clear shining light, Mary\u2019s Child, your face lights up our way. Light of the world, Mary\u2019s Child, dawn on our shadowed day. Truth of our life, Mary\u2019s Child, you tell us God is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2483,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bites"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Holy Child<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Born in the night, Mary's Child, a long way from your home. Coming in need, Mary's Child, born in a borrowed room. 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