Friends,
As Christmas draws nigh, I thought I’d use my Contact space to share one of my favorite Christmas songs with you. The song is called “Cry of a Tiny Babe” and it was written by the Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (who you may remember from earlier in Advent when I shared his song “Last Night of the World” with you). The lyrics for the song are copied below, and if you want to listen to the song online you can surf over to YouTube.
Anyway, don’t forget that Christmas Eve service will be at 5:30 and 9pm; the earlier service is intentionally child-friendly and the later one is more traditional (though, of course, everyone is welcome at both services).
Merry Christmas!
Ben
“Cry of a Tiny Babe”
By Bruce Cockburn.
Mary grows a child without the help of a man
Joseph get upset because he doesn’t understand
Angel comes to Joseph in a powerful dream
Says “God did this and you’re part of his scheme”
Joseph comes to Mary with his hat in his hand
Says “forgive me I thought you’d been with some other man”
She says “what if I had been – but I wasn’t anyway and guess what
I felt the baby kick today”
Refrain:
Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe
The child is born in the fullness of time
Three wise astrologers take note of the signs
Come to pay their respects to the fragile little king
Get pretty close to wrecking everything
‘Cause the governing body of the whole [Holy] land
Is that of Herod, a paranoid man
Who when he hears there’s a baby born King of the Jews
Sends death squads to kill all male children under two
But that same bright angel warns the parents in a dream
And they head out for the border and get away clean
(Refrain)
There are others who know about this miracle birth
The humblest of people catch a glimpse of their worth
For it isn’t to the palace that the Christ child comes
But to shepherds and street people, hookers and bums
And the message is clear if you’ve got [you have] ears to hear
That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear
It’s a Christmas gift [that] you don’t have to buy
There’s a future shining in a baby’s eyes