12/24/2020
Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but today my mind is on the exhaustion of Mary. Full with child, and bearing the punishment of Eve, she has travelled a long way by foot and donkey to arrive in Bethlehem... she is exhausted, but tomorrow that will all come to an end with the final pains of childbirth and the cry of God’s own Son. Was that first utterance of Christ a prayer, and did Mary join Him in it?
I was exhausted this morning, and overslept. Sometimes life is like that, and we find ourselves at the mercy of our frail bodies, but there is always prayer... even in our exhaustion. So on this Christmas Eve I decided to share a song lyric I wrote last year and challenged some songwriter friends to put to music... I called this a Christmas challenge.
Today, as you read these lyrics I hope they bless you, and that if you are musically inclined you will sing, and put them to music yourself, then record your efforts and share them with me at the email address below so that I can pray over your prayer of music. When you do, remember Mary as she suffered through this day in the throes of pending childbirth, and that first prayer she would uttered together with Jesus... her moan, and His Cry.
Pray the Child – a Christmas Challenge Lyric
By Rich Forbes
V1
Mary bow your head
O’re the Christ child’s prayers
Silent at your breast
His Spirit resting there.
Suckling from God’s grace,
The nectar of all heaven,
Does He know the cup?
Dread the coming leaven?
CHO
Innocent the babe
Our sweet precious Lord
Warm in your arms
Heaven’s prince adored
Father sings in heaven
Shepherds chant the while
Joseph calls Him Jesus
Holy Mother pray your child
V2
The tiny hand of Christ
Wrapped around your finger
The grandeur of creation
Precious love that lingers
Ahead the will of God
The suffering and the cross
Mankind’s mighty savior
Soon infant’s sweet dreams lost
CHO
Innocent the babe
Our sweet precious Lord
Warm in your arms
Heaven’s prince adored
Father sighs in heaven
Shepherds praise the while
Joseph calls Him Jesus
Holy Mother pray your child
V3
Gone the baby’s dreams
Now he has awakened
To drink the bitter wine
Flesh to be partaken
The silence of all heaven
Awaits the sordid jeers
Holy child breaths suffering
The nails, a mother’s tears
CHO
Innocent the babe
Our sweet precious Lord
Rises from the tomb;
Heaven’s prince adored
Father’s joy in heaven
Angels sing the while
Welcome home the Son
Blessed Mother prays her child
So now Mary bow your head
O’er the Christ Child’s prayers
Hold Him peaceful to you breast
And let him find some comfort there.
Let him find some comfort there.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for this final day before the birth of your Son Jesus, and the suffering that Mary endured as her body prepared itself for His arrival. Thank you for her prayers as she felt the first pangs of labor, and the discomfort of your Son as He positioned himself in her birth canal... ready to enter a world that would treat Him so harshly. Help us Father to understand the mystery of this day, and why it was necessary for mother and Child, to labor in this fashion to bring the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to mankind. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent his Son to redeem us; not in ease, but to endure all the suffering that man could possibly imagine, and then to go even further by placing upon Him the sin of the world. Praised be your name Lord for that final moan of Mary, and sweet cry of Jesus. Open our ears to them, and one day let us understand them fully as prayer. Praised be your Holy Spirit that gives utterance to our prayers that have no words. Tomorrow Mary’s blood will flow, as all women’s blood has since Eve, but in Jerusalem, and on Calvary we will receive the redeeming blood of Christ, and the purification it brings. Hear our prayers now Father, that we offer incessantly till that day you call us home to you... made pure, and holy... returned to you righteous as we utter our final gasp of prayer, and our loved ones pray midst their tears.
“Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.””
Genesis 3:13, 16 ESV
Rich Forbes