{"id":777,"date":"2012-12-24T14:33:01","date_gmt":"2012-12-24T21:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/?p=777"},"modified":"2016-05-02T11:29:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T17:29:35","slug":"when-half-spent-was-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html","title":{"rendered":"When Half-Spent Was the Night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the night is half-spent. The tradition that Jesus was born at midnight is probably based partly on the language from the Book of Wisdom describing the angel who liberated the Israelites from Egypt:<\/p>\n

For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent,
\nYour all-powerful word from heaven\u2019s royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land . . . \u00a0(Wisdom 18:14-15)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s always in the dark watches of the night that we think the Messiah will never come, or Bethlehem will never provide shelter, or the kids will not stop throwing up in time for us to have the perfect Christmas<\/strong><\/a>. But without the darkness and the waiting and the fear, we would not notice the coming of the Light.<\/p>\n

I know that this year, for me, the Light is almost too dazzling to bear against the darkness of the doomed land where I\u2019d been dwelling of late. The worst darkness of my life is giving birth to the best Christmas ever, and all I can do, like the shepherds, is stand in stunned and silent awe, grateful.<\/p>\n

The message of Christmas is always one of growth and blossoming, in the bleakest of midwinters, in the darkest of half-spent nights. That\u2019s the message of Isaiah in the reading for Morning Prayer today, and of the carol I love that is set to his prophecy:<\/p>\n

Lo, how a rose e\u2019er blooming,
\nFrom tender stem hath sprung.
\nOf\u00a0Jesse\u2019s lineage coming,
\nAs men of old have sung;
\nIt came, a flow\u2019ret bright,
\nAmid the cold of winter,
\nWhen half spent was the night.<\/p>\n

Isaiah\u00a0\u2019twas foretold it,
\nThe Rose I have in mind,
\nWith\u00a0Mary\u00a0we behold it,
\nThe virgin mother kind;
\nTo show God\u2019s love aright,
\nShe bore to men a Savior,
\nWhen half spent was the night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a child I first heard this German carol, with the 1894 English translation by Theodore Baker and the wondrous Michael Praetorius harmony, sung by the Roger Wagner Chorale on Joy to the World<\/em><\/a>, a Christmas collection so terrific I\u2019ve gone through 3 vinyl discs, a tape, a CD, and am on to the MP3 version now. The Jesse Tree, a medieval illustration of the prophecy referred to in the song, is also one of my favorite Christmas images: Jesse, the father of the House of David, asleep as a tree grows from him. The branches of the tree depict (in Western art) the generations of Jesus\u2019 genealogy; in Byzantine art, the branches depict Old Testament types and the major prophets foretelling the Messiah\u2019s coming. In both traditions the Jesse Tree\u2019s culminating blossom is the Rosa Mystica<\/em>, the Virgin Mary and her Child.<\/p>\n

This is my Christmas card to you, and my Christmas wish: That God\u2019s promise takes root in you, and grows, and flowers, and bears fruit\u2014no matter how bleak the midwinter, no matter how far spent the night. May you have a Blessed Nativity!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the night is half-spent. The tradition that Jesus was born at midnight is probably based partly on the language from the Book of Wisdom describing the angel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[220,240,241],"class_list":["post-777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","tag-christmas","tag-jesse-tree","tag-lo-how-a-rose-eer-blooming"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Half-Spent Was the Night<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Half-Spent Was the Night\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Egregious Twaddle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-24T21:33:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-02T17:29:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joanne McPortland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joanne McPortland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html\",\"name\":\"When Half-Spent Was the Night\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-24T21:33:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-02T17:29:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#\/schema\/person\/988428e355d44143e36a5215d7f0a071\"},\"description\":\"  One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Half-Spent Was the Night\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/\",\"name\":\"Egregious Twaddle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#\/schema\/person\/988428e355d44143e36a5215d7f0a071\",\"name\":\"Joanne McPortland\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32f1d9bc6c1a69b90e3b6e9f40141056?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32f1d9bc6c1a69b90e3b6e9f40141056?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joanne McPortland\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/author\/joannemcportland\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Half-Spent Was the Night","description":"  One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Half-Spent Was the Night","og_description":"  One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html","og_site_name":"Egregious Twaddle","article_published_time":"2012-12-24T21:33:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-02T17:29:35+00:00","author":"Joanne McPortland","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joanne McPortland","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html","name":"When Half-Spent Was the Night","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-24T21:33:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-02T17:29:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#\/schema\/person\/988428e355d44143e36a5215d7f0a071"},"description":"  One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite Christmas carols is a great reminder that the Light of the World comes into our darkness when the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/2012\/12\/when-half-spent-was-the-night.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Half-Spent Was the Night"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/","name":"Egregious Twaddle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#\/schema\/person\/988428e355d44143e36a5215d7f0a071","name":"Joanne McPortland","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32f1d9bc6c1a69b90e3b6e9f40141056?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/32f1d9bc6c1a69b90e3b6e9f40141056?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joanne McPortland"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/author\/joannemcportland"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/egregioustwaddle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}