In the Bleak Midwinter

This past Christmas, I discovered a new carol.  Well, it was in the hymnal 1982 all along, but being the newbie episcopalian that I am, I heard it for the first time at Christmas Eve Mass and the First Sunday after Christmas.  With all this talk of snow, and the fact that we are in the "Bleak midwinter" season, with an extremely dreary day, coupled with the potential arrival of evening snow, this song has been floating around in my head all day.  Thank God for Youtube!  Just meditate on the lyrics which were written by Christina G. 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.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,

worshiped 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.

Beloved, may you find peace in the midst of the darkness and chaos of the bleak midwinter.  May you ever be mindful of the hand of God and his presence in our lives, even as it seems that we await in darkness with the promise of new life and the advent of spring.

Peace,
Karsten