Several people have told me they've also been taking the 'Four Kinds of Christmas' quiz, and some have got 'Manger'.
Manger people recognise, like Scrooges, that everything is not as it should be now. Unlike Scrooges, however, they have hope for the future. The Christmas story tells us that God knows everything is not right, and that he longs to put it right. And so God comes to his people as a baby, born to humble people, a baby whose first bed is an animal's feeding-trough filled with straw. I cannot put it any better than Christina Rossetti:
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
This is many people's favourite carol. (For me, it is joint first with 'O come, O come Immanuel'). The most well-known tune to which it is sung, Cranham, is beautiful, composed by Gustav Holst. The words came first, however, a Christmas poem written by the wonderful Christina Rossetti. For me, she captures beautifully the wonder of incarnation - that almighty God might 'become flesh', reducing himself to fit in the body of a baby; swapping the glory of heaven for the simple, hard life of a poor Jewish family in first century Palestine. My favourite line (Mr Internet questions its theology, but I'm going to ignore that for the time being) is the beginning of verse two: 'Our God, heaven cannot hold him.' To me it speaks of the incredible power of God Almighty, a power that is expressed in love. The love of God overflows to his people to such a degree that he cannot stay removed from us in heaven, but is compelled to come to be with us. Christmas hope is that we are not alone in the universe.
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