Heaven's Got a Baby

One of my favorite contemporary folk Christmas songs is a beauty from Sarah Masen called Heaven's Got a Baby. The lyrics of the whole song are at the end of this post, but one set of words always stand out when I listen:

And we all started dancing
And throwing all our chances on
Mystery, Forgiveness and
a Child

The thought of throwing all our chances on mystery can send many of us into panic. But add forgiveness and a child and it sounds like a set-up for a catastrophe. We certainly could lose control. We won't have all the right answers. In fact we might not have any answers since answers take away mystery.

Yet isn't that really what Christmas is? A mystery beyond any ability of any human to even begin to be able to comprehend. That's why Christmas is one long story. We tell it and re-tell it. Even as a non-Christian child in the late 50s and early 60s I could tell the Christmas story because seeing it on TV was enough to have it settle in forever. Mystery and Story are intimately related.

Which is why forgiveness is at the heart. That, too, is a mystery. Why can we find it within ourselves to forgive sometimes and not at others? Why do we often have such an incredibly difficult time forgiving ourselves? Mystery.

And finally the Child. A child, especially a baby, remains The Paradigm for all that is both helpless and hopeful about humanity. Each child is so utterly dependent on others, completely unable to do anything for themselves. Yet within that child are more possibilities than we can ever imagine. Wow- Mystery.

It is just a week until the Mystery explodes on us again with trumpets and angels singing Hallelujah. I can hardly wait.

Heaven's Got a Baby (2x)
Down in, down in, down in Bethlehem
Bringing all our best gifts
Fixing up the make-shift
We're a getting - ready for a King
The angels in the back room
They memorize a new tune
They practice Hallelujah in harmony
Heaven's got a little bitty baby
The peasants in the market oh
They're working out resentment so
The angels take their cue and hit the lights
And we all started dancing
And throwing all our chances
On mystery, forgiveness and a child
Heaven's Got a Baby (4x)
Down in, down in (2x)
Down in, ---Bethlehem
--Sarah Masen