'Tis the season for seasonal loneliness and homesickness, of which I know a great deal, having blown all my vacation hours for this year and not having time to get home to mom and/or dad for Christmas. Here is a Christmas prayer that, I hope, will spread some of the benefits of Jesus' incarnation on this malady of the heart. The tune is SOLLT ES GLEICH BISWEILEN SCHEINEN by Ahasuerus Fritsch, 1675. Merry Christmas, and God bless!
Where no inn had room to spare,
Bless the lonely and forlorn;
Let Your presence ease our care.
2. You from ageless throne came down,
Shone upon by distant star:
Strange as may be tongue or town,
God’s right hand is where You are.
3. Far from Joseph’s shop and home,
Far from Mary’s kin and hearth,
To cold welcome have You come,
Bringing peace and joy to earth.
4. Into exile You were flung,
Marked for death by cruel king;
As a foreign flower sprung,
Life to barren wilds You bring.
5. Prophet, slighted by Your own,
To the heartsick testify:
When we stand reviled, alone,
We have fellowship thereby.
6. Birds have nests and foxes holes;
You, Lord, had no place to rest,
Till, to ransom many souls,
In grave-clothes You would be dressed.
7. Stay by us, for whom You died,
Peerless Lamb, in lonely pain.
Draw us daily to Your side,
Where fresh mercies we obtain.
8. Shelter us, Lord; make us one
By Your drowning, birthing flood;
See Your will, as promised, done
Through communion in Your blood.
9. Let us, through the bread You give,
Members of Your body be;
As one body, help us live
Till from death You set us free.
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