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Monday 24 December 2007

Cry of a Tiny Babe

The best Christmas song that I’ve come across is called Cry of a Tiny Babe and was written by the Canadian singer-songwriter, Bruce Cockburn. I think it’s a great song because it captures the very human dilemmas of Jesus’ birth like Mary’s situation of becoming pregnant before her marriage:

"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"

The whole point of God becoming a human being in Jesus is that he would experience human life as we experience it and being born into a tense and confused relationship is the reality of life for many of us.

Bruce Cockburn recognises that Jesus isn’t born into wealth or power but in his birth identifies with ordinary people like us:

"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 ears to hear
That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear
It's a Christmas gift you don't have to buy
There's a future shining in a baby's eyes"

It seems incredible that this one child born into tense relationships and an ordinary existence could affect human beings in the way that Jesus grew up to do. But that is the reality and the miracle of what happened:

"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"

This Christmas your experience may be of tense relationships or an ordinary mundane existence. But this Christmas may also be your opportunity to catch a glimpse of your own worth and discover that there is a future for you shining in that baby’s eye.

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Eternal - I Am Blessed.

2 comments:

HisPrincess said...

Thank you so much. In particular your last verse was exactly what I needed to read. Thank you for allowing yourself to be a vessel for God's word.

Jonathan Evens said...

Great to hear that you connected with this song too.