In January of 1872, Christina Rossetti published a little poem entitled, A Christmas Carol. The poem takes the birth of Jesus in the Judea, and creatively imagines the holy moment instead in the cold snowy England. Over time, the poem was retitled In the Bleak Midwinter, and set to music, becoming a beloved Christmas hymn that appears even in our Baptist hymnal.
Over 150 years later, Rossetti’s words are still powerful as the hymn moves from the bleakness of winter, to the warmth of Christ’s crib. The song seems to slowly pan, considering earthly bleakness, God’s willingness to have his son be born here, of angels singing, and ultimately how we might respond to the birth of Christ.
In the rapid pace of the Christmas season with an ever growing need to buy more and more, the haunting quietness of the hymn reminds us that Christ is born to build a different kind of kingdom. This baby we are anxiously awaiting does not require gifts or money or other physical accoutrement, but our love and our lives.
This year for our worship in Advent, we will walk through the hymn by singing it verse by verse every week until we finally sing the full hymn. We will slowly work towards the question, What Can I Give Him? How should we as Christ followers respond anew to the birth of Christ in this world? Rossetti closes her poem by stating that shepherds have sheep to give, and wise men have their part to play. But we are poor, and so, what can we give? We hear Rossetti’s wise words: “ I would give my heart.”
And so, I hope you and yours will join us this Christmas season, walk with us to Christ, and we might just find that we have enough to give him.