The Album:
The Lyrics:
Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?
Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior
All that we have whether costly or meek
Because we believe
Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he’ll suffer
Do you believe, is this who we’ve waited for?
It’s who we’ve waited for
How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me
All for me
All for you
All for me
All for you
Andrea's Take:
I was looking for a song to post this Epiphany weekend, besides the obvious "We Three Kings," and my friend Melissa, whom you heard from earlier this week, recommended this. She calls it her newest favorite Christmas song.
It certainly is appropriate as a Christmas song. Even more so as an Epiphany song (though few people in the modern Church would trouble themselves to write an Epiphany song). But it really is universal. In fact, I heard it on the radio just this week, long after most of us have put Christmas behind us. I have heard my almost 5 year old daughter singing several times since then too.
Told from the viewpoint of the wise men at their introduction to the Christ child, it explores the wonder they may have felt at finding Him in a humble country stable instead of in the grand palaces of Jerusalem they had so recently left.
It expresses the wonder we all should feel. At Christmas, at Epiphany, at Easter, on the second Tuesday in September. All the time. Wonder should fill our hearts every time we think of where He came from and what He gave up to come here and save us.
My favorite lines are these:
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mother's shawl
This is not the only reference in song to the cloths that Jesus was wrapped in, but I think it's my favorite. Would Mary and Joseph have carried extra supplies on their long journey? I doubt it. Would they have wrapped the baby in just any old dirty rag? Certainly not. But a mother would easily sacrifice her own garment for the comfort and safety of her child.
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
My faithful readers know me to be an an avid romance reader, so it should come as no surprise that I cherish the picture of God giving up His greatest prize in order to woo his Bride.
And of course:
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me.
A stark and simple question with its stark and simple answer.
I hope this Epiphany weekend has you in awe and wonder as the wise men must have been on that day. Let's always be sure to offer our best gifts to Him as they did. After all, He gave His best gift to us.
The chorus is just the best. The king, the Lord, the Greatest, The God, the best father gav up everything for me. To not believe him after everything he's done is such a cosmic slap in the face. To not obey and love him is the same.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet I do not always trust/believe/love/obey even though I believe and know what he did for me. And He knew that I wouldn't give my love back to him as perfectly as He gave it to me. And yet he still chose to leave heaven, give up his life, his glory and a part of himself for the stinker of a me that I am.