How Far Is It to Bethlehem?
How Far Is It to Bethlehem?
Traditional American Carol
Poem by Frances Chesterton
© 1999 Music Sales Corporation
How far is it to Bethlehem?
Not very far.
Shall we find the stable room lit by a star?
Can we see the little Child,
Is He within?
If we lift the wooden latch, may we go in?
…
Great kinds have precious gifts, and we have naught.
Little smiles and little tears are all we have brought.
…
God in his mother’s arms, babe in the byre.
Sleep, as they sleep who find their hearts desire.
This isn’t a particularly favorite hymn of mine…nor even a very familiar one. While leafing through a music book last Christmas, its title captured my attention. I wondered: How far is it to find what we’re looking for? To find Whom we’re seeking? To find solace? To find peace?
Is it too hopeful to put our dreams in the hands of One who came as a helpless babe? One who was nothing much by human standards, unnoticed by the census crowds, unremarkable even to an innkeeper. We want a Savior. But, we also want our journeys to Him…our own personal journeys to Bethlehem, if you will…to be easy, predictable.
However, Jesus, from his birth in an unlikely place to an unlikely mother, is anything but easy and predictable. He brings God’s message of sinfulness, of need for salvation, sacrifice, repentance, obedience, fruitfulness. He calls us to love our neighbors…and then defines those neighbors as the type of people we’re least drawn to love. He’s toughest on the religious types who thought they were the faithful ones.
Today, we tell the beautiful—sanitized--Christmas story…of angels, shepherds, wise men, Mary and a babe, swaddled in a manger…a star…a peaceful night… We somehow manage to leave out the messier parts of the story. An unwed, teenage mother whose husband-to-be had resolved to “put her away quietly…” Rumors swirling about her reputation… Joseph’s distrust… An uncomfortable journey—nine months pregnant, traveling dusty, rocky roads by donkey. No place to stay. Having a baby in a filthy place. No one to help the small family.
No, life with Jesus isn’t convenient or predictable. God’s ways are not always understandable. Our “journeys to Bethlehem” may, at times, feel like long, dusty ones where no one offers us shelter nor comes to our aid. Where we are miserably pregnant but perhaps more afraid of what comes next. Where our closest companion is almost a stranger to us. Where we must lean on a God who, in one moment, spoke clearly through an angel, and in this moment might seem to be silent but is so very present.
But, as the hymn says: “How far is it to Bethlehem? Not very far.” God is there. God, come to us. God offering us life through His own life and eventual death. The God of Hope. The God of Peace. The God of Stars and Shepherds and Wise Men. The God of Journeys.
And, what do we bring? Nothing but ourselves…”smiles and tears”…to offer to a God who gives His whole Self to us in return.
May this Advent season truly prepare you for a meaningful and blessed Christmas as you contemplate and embrace the unsanitized birth of Jesus to unlikely humans in a most unlikely place. My God be very present to you in the most unlikely of moments!
Important resources:
Take this free spiritual gifts assessment or this free Spanish language spiritual gifts assessment.
Purchase the six-week workbook in English or Spanish:
Downloadable Resources--See Sample List of Interest Areas; Your Spiritual Gifts—A Study Guide; Knowing Your Unique Calling and Purpose Study Guide; Whole-Life Ministry: A Form of Worship, Grace-Giving, and Living into Your Calling.
[How Far is it to Bethlehem—originally written by Shirley Giles Davis for an Advent devotional booklet for Grace Commons Church.]
Shirley Giles Davis, author of God's Affirmations For You: A Book of Encouragement—A 12-Week Devotional Practice, the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, DIOS. DONES. TÚ.: Tu llamado y diseño único (Spanish Edition), and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with hundreds of faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and executive leaders in a diversity of fields for four decades. She currently serves as Catalyst for Equipping at her church.
Photo © Shirley Giles Davis.
All rights reserved.
Additionally, the contents of these blog posts may not be used to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies without the author's express permission