Away In A Manger

 It's Christmas time. And one of the things most of us do during this time of year is to sing Christmas Carols. Whether we sing them in church, when we go caroling, or maybe just at home singing with them on our favorite cd, some of the best-loved carols are sung every year. 

But, have you ever wondered where your favorite carols originated? Who wrote them? What stories might have helped produce them? Where they come from?

I  myself have at times wondered about them. However, I don't ever recall checking into them to answer those questions. So for the next few weeks off and on, I will be doing just that here in my blog. 

Perhaps we can gain some insight into those carols we have loved to sing over the years.

I am going to start off with a favorite one from childhood.

Away in a Manger

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus! look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to heaven to live with thee there.

Wow, what memories this little carol brings back to my 70-year-old head. It invokes thoughts of singing it in the Baptist Church we went to all those years ago. And one memory that goes along with it, which we kids enjoyed was receiving a small box of candy on Christmas Eve at the church. Another one is of my dad filling small containers of oranges and candy to be given out one year. I honestly do not remember who they went to, as I was very young. But that bit of memory of watching my dad still resides somewhere deep in my heart. 

Anyway, where did this little song come from? And by whom? Wikipedia tells it this way:

"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second. Although it was long claimed to be the work of German religious reformer Martin Luther, the carol is now thought to be wholly American in origin.^[1] The two most-common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James Ramsey Murray (1887).

Wow, written decades ago, I wonder how many churches utilize it in their Christmas services today? Are children still singing it, or has it 'gone out' because it is no longer popular to sing about the birth of our Savior like so many other parts of Christmas that has because of groups of people that find them redundant? Intolerable? Or worse?

I don't know about you, but as for me, it was the very early beginnings of my own love for the baby Jesus, that led lit the path for where I am today. 

You can take carols out of the kind of events that they used to be sung at.

But you can't take them out of the heart. And that is where they can always be.

Thanks for coming by Friends. May your days be merry, and your love of Jesus be forever. God bless!