What Child Is This
What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.
(William Chatterton Dix, 1865, England)
The sweet, sweet smell of a new baby, brought into this world as newly created flesh. The gentle touch of fresh skin formed in the womb of a woman, a frightened yet trusting young woman. Created with the Imago Dei (image of God), this young maiden’s baby’s smell overshadowed the reality of a birth where animals, with their overwhelming smells, would overpower senses in a normal situation.
But this situation was not normal. It broke into the atmosphere with a hope that had not been reality for too many millennia. This sweet child, laying peacefully in the arms of his mama, would herald in a new millennium. No one really knew what that entirely meant in the moment. But the star that shown, the angels that sang, and the shepherds that shouted, knew it was something special. The sweet babe, with his soon to be heard cries for milk ringing in the ears of his mother, would serve a much greater purpose – one those cries would exchange as cries of solace for a grief necessary to endure.
What do we cry out for in this Christmas season? Or better yet, whom do we cry out for? What are the gifts we desire? Those of a human making or are they made with hands unseen in a spirit yet formed? Do we reflect our God-breathed Imago Dei such as it was reflected in the innocent cry of a teenager who said her soul was magnified because she was to bear the hope of the world? Into this world let us come and glorify the one who is born this season. Let our gifts be that of the soul where our very breath is given back to glorify the God of our soul. Let our gifts be gifts of Hope, Joy, Peace, and Goodwill to all who cross our paths. And may the spirit of Christmas be that of the Christ child – at rest in the arms of the one who birthed him.
Rev. Windy Lovett, NBC Academic Advisor
Published: 12/20/2021
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