A Christmas Hymn

Arcabus

 "And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." 
 Luke 19, 39-40

A Christmas Hymn

A stable-lamp is lighted

Whose glow shall wake the sky;

The stars shall bend their voices,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry,

And straw like gold shall shine;

A barn shall harbor heaven,

A stall become a shrine.

This child through David's city

Shall ride in triumph by;

The palm shall strew its branches,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry,

Though heavy, dull, and dumb,

And lie within the roadway

To pave his kingdom come.

Yet he shall be forsaken,

And yielded up to die;

The sky shall groan and darken,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry

For stony hearts of men:

God's blood upon the spearhead,

God's love refused again.

But now, as at the ending,

The low is lifted high;

The stars shall bend their voices,

And every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry

In praises of the child

By whose descent among us

The worlds are reconciled.

Richard Wilbur

That verse where Jesus says "If no one speaks about me, the stones themselves will cry out." has always got to me. Can you imagine? I mean, this is the Son of God, Creator of the Universe, and humanity does not recognize him, but all the rest of creation does. They know his voice, his step, his touch. The winds and waves obeyed him, illness and disease shrank away. And I have to say,  nature has been crying his name from the beginning - anything I look at, a leaf, a feather, and yes,  even a rock, when I look closely enough, when I see the beauty and complexity, the wonder in the smallest details - I hear his name over and over again.