While there are scores of excellent Christmas carols, the popularity of these unrelated songs highlights the unfathomable time and space that separate us from Jesus' birth. I can't help wondering, How did we get from a world-changing story about the Messiah in a manger to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree?" I don't mind the goofy holiday music, but every Christmas I have to dust off my own CDs and make time for music that's actually about Christmas.
In my opinion one of the most profound Christmas songs ever written is "Mary, Did You Know?" Mark Lowry wrote this song in 1984 - a lifetime ago for some of us. :-) It captures a moment in time while our Savior was helpless and small, and the world didn't know what was coming. Mary held Him in her arms and must have wondered so many things. After learning this song in choir I've been accidentally analyzing the lyrics as poetry, and the more I think about it, I really love this song. Literature terminology is ugly, and it's Christmas. So do yourself a favor, and take a moment to read these words and just savor their meaning:
Mary did you know that your baby boy
will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy
will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered,
will soon deliver you.
Mary did you know that your baby boy
will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy
will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy
has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby,
you have kissed the face of God.
The blind will see,
the deaf will hear,
the dead will live again.
The lame will leap,
the dumb will speak,
the praises of the Lamb.
Mary did you know that your baby boy
is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy
will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy
is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
is the great I AM.
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