The Wondrous Gift Is Given
Micah 5:2, 4
Mt. Pisgah Presbyterian Church
December 25, 2011
Roslyn, WA
Dr. James D. Berkley
In other churches, I have worn a robe while leading worship, and I have decided to do so here. But since today is Christmas morning and many people elsewhere are sitting around in their pajamas, opening gifts in their living rooms, I was tempted to show up in my bathrobe today. But my better instincts prevailed, for this is a grand and glorious day to join in the worship of our newborn King!
While I didn’t run with my preference for attire today, I am going to defer to my preference in Christmas carols. I love to sing the traditional carols, but my favorite carol of all is “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” because of its deep theological insight.
Phillips Brooks wrote this carol. He was an Episcopal parish priest in Boston who preached regularly at Harvard and eventually became Bishop of Massachusetts. Brooks was very popular in the late 19th Century. Many quotations from him remain, such as: “Christianity helps us face the music even when we don’t like the tune” and “It is while you are patiently toiling at the little tasks of life that the meaning and shape of the great whole of life dawn on you.”
This beloved Christmas carol that Phillips Brooks wrote is like a gospel tract. The lyrics lead us to a deeper understanding of what took place in Bethlehem that Christmas—both the seen and the unseen—and what our response to that gift definitely ought to be.
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is addressed poetically in the carol. Bethlehem was a village associated with the great King David. The name means “house of bread,” and it is an ancient village. It is about five miles from Jerusalem. On its outskirts, right by the main highway, is Rachel’s Tomb, near to where Rachel, the beloved wife of the patriarch Jacob, died giving birth to Benjamin. There she was buried, just short of her Bethlehem destination.
Today Bethlehem is a Palestinian town on the West Bank in Israel. It has had an enduring Christian population over the years, but times are tough now for Christians in Islamic places, and many have left Bethlehem. Several years back, the Church of the Nativity, a massive but rather nondescript structure from the Fourth Century, was violently occupied by Islamist Palestinian gunmen and became the scene of a tense standoff and gun battles.
Once again, however, one may enter the church and be escorted downstairs to what was once a cave but is now an ornate niche, where a star on the marble floor denotes the exact spot where it is believed that Jesus was born. Ancient legend and lore lead one to believe that if it was not exactly there, it was probably close-by, since the site has been sacred since the early years of Christian history. It certainly was in Bethlehem somewhere that Jesus was truly born, and this is likely the spot.
Thus, of all communities all over the world, Bethlehem plays a starring role, as it does in Phillips Brooks’s carol. The carol starts late at night, and Bethlehem is addressed: “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.” It’s quiet in Bethlehem, or at least it appears so. Here’s a sleepy little town with not much going on—maybe a little like Roslyn after the bars close. Hardly anyone is moving about, and the big, bright stars in the cold, quiet night sky just circle their way around the North Star. At least that’s how it appears.
But the carol strikes a contrary note: “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.” Dark streets? Yes, but a light? An everlasting light? What light is shining? What’s going on? Is there more here than meets the eye?
There certainly is! “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” There in Bethlehem, there in that seemingly still little town, things that people have only hoped for have arrived; things that others have feared have also arrived. Vast, extraordinary expectations are being met in that ostensibly silent village. There is more than meets the eye in Bethlehem—much more!
The birth
Brooks doesn’t keep us in suspense for long. So what is it going on quietly that is so fabulous? “Christ is born of Mary!” The Messiah that had been so long expected and so dearly sought—that Messiah, the Christ, was birthed in quiet Bethlehem. The little peasant girl, Mary, just a wisp of a thing, and a hapless traveler at that—that Mary is giving birth to the Messiah. That’s what’s going on!
The birth has witnesses, even if the people of Bethlehem are sleeping through it: “Gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.” Angels are in awe of this Baby, born of Mary. They’re keeping watch. They are in wonder. They love that Baby. This is a celestial occurrence of greatest importance, but it remains off the radar for most of the sleeping world, even as it is virtually ignored by much of our world to this day.
But the birth of Christ isn’t going to remain unheralded. “O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth! And praises sing to God the King, and peace to all on earth.” Jesus later said that if the people didn’t herald him, the very rocks would cry out. Brooks says here that the stars in the sky were to proclaim his birth and praise God. What an occasion! This is BIG! God has come to earth as a baby, there in hushed, backwater Bethlehem.
The bonanza
Okay, there’s Bethlehem. There’s a birth. What we have next is a bonanza. “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.” Talk about the giving of gifts! Wow! This is it, writ large! God gives a wondrous gift to us of the blessings of heaven. We poor, benighted souls stumbling around in our sin and shame get something we don’t deserve and never could earn; we get the blessings of heaven through Jesus Christ. We get to know God and to be with God. We get to be sons and daughters of the Most High—family of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Oh, it may be mostly quiet in Bethlehem, but the grandest gift ever given, the most magnificent inheritance ever handed out has been accomplished in the little town of Bethlehem. A wondrous gift is given—to you and to me.
That’s a bonanza if ever there was one.
A bargain
So how do we obtain that bonanza? God gives us a bargain, a deal, a covenant, to put it in theological terms: “No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.” Christ will enter into our lives. That’s his end of the bargain. Our end of the bargain is to receive him into our lives, to reach out our hands and receive from him our salvation. Meekly. We do it not in pride, or as if we were equals with Christ. No, we reach out as meek sould to our magnificent Savior.
Phillips Brooks even takes us by the hand in the final stanza of the carol, putting a significant, solemn prayer on our lips: “O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.” That is a prayer inviting Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior, our Leader and Forgiver. We ask Jesus to be born in us here and now, not just in Bethlehem, far off in time and geography. To be born in our lives today. In us.
We’ve heard the birth story so many times. We’ve celebrated dozens and dozens of Christmases. We’ve lit candles and sung carols. As the carol reads, “We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell.” Like the shepherds of Bethlehem, we have gotten the message. It’s in the air.
But what we need to do with our lives and in our hearts is to communicate to God the prayer: “O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!”
You have probably prayed a prayer similar to that sometime previous to today. That is what makes one a Christian. But if you have never prayed such a prayer to God—asking him into your life—or if you would like to renew that commitment, please join me silently now as I pray aloud:
Lord Jesus, I want to open my life to you. Get rid of the sin within me. Cast it out. And enter into my life as my Savior. Be born in me on this your birthday! I trust you to save me from my sin, and I turn over to you control of my life. Come to me, Jesus. Remain with me, Jesus. I am yours. Thank you! Amen.
[See next page for an analysis of the carol.]
The Gospel in a Carol
O Little Town of Bethlehem
CAROL ANALYSIS
O little town of Bethlehem, These first four lines tell about
how still we see thee lie! apparent realities versus eternal
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep realities behind the surface.
the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth Now a hint of hope is introduced
the everlasting light; to gain the secular person’s
The hopes and fears of all the years attention: Our hopes and fears
are met in thee tonight. are met where? How?
For Christ is born of Mary; Introduces the Gospel story,
and gathered all above, again contrasting what’s
While mortals sleep, the angels keep apparently happening versus
their watch of wondering love. what’s truly happening.
O morning stars, together
proclaim the holy birth! Breaks into praise over this
And praises sing to God the King, truly good news.
and peace to all the earth.
How silently, how silently, Poetically tells the heart of the
the wondrous gift is given! gospel story—a gift of grace.
So God imparts to human hearts The Great Exchange: God
the blessings of his heaven. gives salvation and blessing;
No ear may hear his coming, God takes away sin and stain.
but in this world of sin, And this can happen today!
Where meek souls will receive him, still Tells how to receive this
the dear Christ enters in. wonderful gift.
O holy Child of Bethlehem, This is a prayer of salvation,
descend to us, we pray; asking God to stoop to us,
Cast our our sin and enter in; forgive our sin, enter our lives,
be born in us today. and be alive in us!
We hear the Christmas angels This is good news to us!
the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, Reaffirms the prayer asking
Our Lord Emmanuel! Christ into their life.
—Phillips Brooks, 1868 —by James D. Berkley
