December 16

128 Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

Infant holy, infant lowly, for his bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing, little knowing Christ the babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing:
Christ the babe is Lord of all!

Flocks were sleeping; shepherds keeping vigil till the morning new
Saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of the gospel true.
Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing greet the morrow:
Christ the babe was born for you!

Devotion

Cows know more than you think.  Have you ever noticed that the cows featured in ads for Chick-Fil-A are bad spellers? I've often wondered why folks responsible for those ads made that choice. Why foist bad spelling on all cow-kind? I mean, surely some of those cows writing on billboards are good spellers. To be fair, I've probably spent too much time thinking about this, but it does make one wonder. Maybe one of the ad reps had sung this hymn recently, and the line "oxen lowing, little knowing" was echoing through his or her mind. I tend to disagree with the hymn writer on this one. I like to imagine the lowing of the cattle as their efforts to join the angels in their choruses of praise. I think the cattle did know that the babe, Jesus, lying in their feed trough was the Lord of heaven and earth. I figure the swift, as they winged by, clued them in. "Mary got here without her white noise machine. Get to lowing so that baby can sleep." As we move through the season of advent, my hope is that we will all listen for cattle lowing, leaves rustling, cats purring, owls hooting, and all the voices of creation inviting us to offer our voices to the chorus of praise for a newborn babe, "Christ the babe is Lord of all! Christ the babe was born for you...and you...and you...."

Alan Bancroft

Prayer

Lowly and Holy One, we give thanks for your willingness to draw near to us in human form. As we see your glory in the world, may we bear witness with voices of praise and rejoicing. Amen.