"Do You Hear What I Hear?"

IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS

​by Robert P. Starbuck

Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night...
 
 
"Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Lyrics by Noël Regney & Music by Gloria Shayne Baker

Said the night wind to the little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite,
With a tail as big as a kite.

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea,
With a voice as big as the sea.

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold-
Let us bring him silver and gold,
Let us bring him silver and gold.

Said the king to the people everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
Pray for peace, people, everywhere,
Listen to what I say!
The Child, the Child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light,
He will bring us goodness and light.
 
 
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song first written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne Baker, they were married at the time.  The song was written as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but it is widely known now as a Christmas Carol.

It is still an important message to share even now at this time. Especially, in a weary world where it is long past time to end the religious strife that divides humankind so often.  To come to some understanding of our common humanity, one that takes us beyond the tenets of any faith, in an interfaith dialogue and acceptance, as surely as Jesus taught us to love one another.

    It will soon be Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning!
    Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear the song high above the trees?
    Do you see what I see? Do you see the star dancing in the night?
    Do you know the child shivering in the cold?
    Listen to what I say: He has brought us goodness and light.

Thus, for Christians, begins the first day of Christmas. There will be twelve entire days before we arrive in Bethlehem to offer our gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, which will take place on January 6, another Christian feast day called Epiphany.

Epiphany means to manifest, to see a spiritual event unfold. This is a manifestation of the Divine love in human form, for Christians it is a celebration of the revelation of God as a human being in Jesus Christ. God’s love made manifest in the world. And brings about an indwelling of the Spirit for all humankind.

This was and still is God's gift to us. We decorate our trees, our houses, our yards and we become excited as we wait for the event to unfold. We even give gifts to others, which are symbolic of God's gift to us.

I work with children and even adults who know nothing about this gift. Christmas is simply a secular holiday in which school gets out for two weeks and gifts are exchange. They know there is a baby somewhere in the picture - Baby Jesus, they say, but other than the name they know nothing about him. They don't know that he came to save the world from our sins - to make us whole again.

Do you know that people sing Amazing Grace - a catchy little tune, but have no real concept of what it is all about. It is sad because they are not even aware when Grace strikes them.

I cherish the words of Paul Tillich, noted theologian in his sermon You Are Accepted, from his book The Shaking of the Foundations.

He says:  “It would be better to refuse God and Christ and the Bible than to accept them without grace. For if we accept them without grace, we do so in the state of separation, and can only succeed in deepening the separation. We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by that stroke of grace.”

He goes ahead to say:  “It happens or it does not happen. And certainly it does not happen if we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that we have no need of it. Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness.

It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life. It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual, because we have violated another life, a life, which we loved, or from which we were estranged. It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure has become intolerable to us.

It strikes us when, year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you.”

Love came down at Christmas. It can happen at Christmas but it can happen at any time. After such an experience (a happening) we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed. In that moment grace conquers sin, and reconciliation bridges the gulf of estrangement. And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presuppositions, nothing but acceptance.

I think now of Jeremiah, known as the Prophet of Prayer. "This is the covenant I will make with them I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Jeremiah made God very personal for he told the people that they shall, all know me from the least of them to the greatest.

Then John in the New Testament tells the story of Nicodemus. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus did not understand Jesus' saying.

He asked, "How can a man be born when he is old?" We now know that being born of the spirit has nothing to do with chronological age. It has nothing to do with one's social or economic status. It does have something to do about being struck by grace.

Christmas is certainly about such grace - about being transformed. Once this happens we know what it is to be one of his disciples. We know something about discipleship - knowing what it is all about and living it. The poet Ann Weems has provided us with a beautiful poem in her book Kneeling In Bethlehem. I used it five or six years ago.
 
 
Christmas Trees And Strawberry Summers 

by Ann Weems

​
What I'd really like is a life of Christmas trees and
strawberry summers,
A walk through the zoo with a pocketful of bubble gum and
          a string of balloons.
I'd say "yes" to blueberry mornings and carefree days
          with rainbow endings,
I'd keep the world in springtime and the morning glories
           blooming.
But life is more that birthday parties;
           life is more than candied apples.

I'd rather hear the singing than the weeping.
I'd rather see the healing that the violence.
I'd rather feel the pleasure than the pain.
I'd rather know security than fear.
I'd like to keep the cotton candy coming,
but life is more than fingers crossed;
           life is more than wishing.

Christ said, "follow me."
And, of course, I'd rather not.
I'd rather pretend that doesn't include me.
I'd rather sit by the fire and make my excuses.
I'd rather look the other way,
           not answer the phone,
           and be much too busy to read the paper.

But I said yes and
           that means risk-
           it means, here I am, ready or not!
 
O Christmas trees and strawberry summers,
you're what I like and you are real.
But so are hunger
           and misery
           and hate-filled red faces.
So is confrontation.
So is injustice.
Discipleship means sometimes it's going to rain in my face.
 
But when you've been blind and now you see,
           when you've been deaf and now you hear,
           when you've never understood and now you
know,
           once you know who God calls you to be,
           you're not content with sitting in corners.
There's got to be some alleluia shouting,
           some speaking out
           some standing up
           some caring
           some sharing
           some community
           some risk.
Discipleship means living what you know.
Discipleship means "Thank you, Lord"
           for Christmas trees and strawberry summers
           and even for rain in my face.

Amen.
 
 
Notes:


Poems, prose, and lyrics used under "Fair Use" guidelines & standards for non commercial educational non-profit purposes, with links provide below to each work.

"Do You Hear What I Hear?"
Music by          Gloria Shayne Baker
Lyrics by          Noël Regney
Written             October 1962

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne Baker. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis but it is widely misunderstood to be a Christmas carol. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists. (Wikipedia)

The Shaking of the Foundations by Paul Tillich

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Wipf & Stock Pub; Reprint edition (May 16, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1620322943
ISBN-13: 978-1620322949
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Tillich/e/B000APZER4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1420154500&sr=1-1


Kneeling In Bethlehem by Ann Weems

Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (January 1, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0664228887
ISBN-13: 978-0664228880
http://www.amazon.com/Ann-Weems/e/B001ITXFNQ


A Christmas Sermon ~ DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?
Written by Robert P. Starbuck, M.Div., PhD
Edited by Ron Starbuck
Saint Julian Press, Inc. © 2014/2016
Sermon originally delivered at Sunset United Methodist Church on 12-28-08.

This sermon and others came from, In My Father’s House are Many Mansions, from Saint Julian Press, published on November 1, 2018.  ISBN: 978-1732054226