A Stable Lamp is Lighted

I’m not a Will Ferrell fan, but in one of his movies, that I caught a small portion of, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, his wife asks him to say a prayer before their meal.  What ensues is Ricky imploring Baby Jesus to bless the food, help him win his NASCAR race, and a whole laundry lists of other requests. Apparently this isn’t the first time he’s “prayed” this prayer, and his wife calls him on it.  “Why do you always pray to Baby Jesus?” she shouts in frustration.  Ricky responds, in all sincerity, when he says he likes the infant version because adult Jesus is more demanding, and has more rules and higher expectations for us.

 Laughable as that thinking might be, I believe that there are lots of people out there who share the same sentiment.  What many folks like to forget, during this jolly season, is that the helpless, undemanding baby is the same one who would, 33 years later, offer up his life for us on the cross. The sad truth, for most of us is like Ricky Bobby, to take the path of least resistance.  We have no problem celebrating the birth of Jesus, it’s fun, there are presents, food, pretty decorations and  there’s no spiritual pressure on us.  Heck, even Santa requires good behavior from to receive his gifts, who wouldn’t choose Baby Jesus? When we finally figure out the truth of who Jesus is, we should be humbled and thankful for his birth as well as his death and resurrection.  Years ago a choir I sang in performed this beautiful song at Christmas.  Read the words and be blessed by the birth of the Baby, and the sacrifice of the Grownup Jesus.  

1. 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 harbour heaven,
a stall become a shrine.

2. 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.

3. 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 gifts of love abused;
God's blood upon the spearhead,
God's blood again refused.

4. 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.