Christmas
A Carol of the Night
| Metre: 10 10 11 11 |
Wise men from the East look up to the sky:
See promise and hope in God drawing nigh.
The heavens reveal that love’s mystery is born
To the west – for the world a new light will dawn.
Our strengths and our world are formed by the day:
Roads will seem sure as we trust in our way.
To follow the star, we must travel by night –
God’s sign of his birth leads from darkness to light!
The journey is long, the road far from clear –
The light of the star is stronger than fear;
Dark doubts and all hardships are met in hope’s trust
That God in his truth shares our pain and frail dust.
In Zion they stop and seek for the king
New–born as the one to rule everything.
But he will be born in small Bethlehem town
And poverty’s thorns form the gold of his crown.
The prophet foretold the one who will reign
As shepherd to Israel: everyone’s gain!
So onward they go to the place of the birth:
Where Mary brings Jesus, our Saviour, to earth.
They enter and kneel, adoring God’s Son –
The babe in the straw is love’s holy One!
The gifts that they offer in bare stable room
Reveal God’s great glory in power, prayer and tomb.
© Neil Thompson 2020