In the Bleak Midwinter - Christina Rossetti

There is a whole category of Christmas Carols that are deeply beloved by pastors and yet dreaded by many a parishioner.

There is something about Christmas time that makes us want to return to the familiar, to the comfort of tradition and to the joy of little drummer boys. The hymn setting of Christina Rossetti’s poem is indeed one of my favorites, yet I know that speaks just a little too much of ice and of snow for it to consistently warm the hearts of my church at Christmas time.

And yet I return to it again and again for its simplicity, its beauty and its description of mother and child.

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.