Sweet Little Jesus Boy
Long time ago, you were born, Born in a manger low,
Sweet Little Jesus Boy, The world treats you mean, Lord,
Treats me mean, too, But that’s how things are down here
We don’t know who you are.
Robert MacGimsey (1898-1979)
“The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Christmas day invitation in scripture is the poetry of the gospeller John. God’s very word came to us in the flesh to dwell among us.
An afternoon opportunity to do my “worship” what sought me, found me. The beautifully sung phrases of an unknown to me piece written by Robert MacGimsey. Sweet Little Jesus Boy, the word that became flesh.
How hard the world tries to get “in between” us. The harsh way we talk about one another. The cruel way we seek to name an enemy or turn desperate people into something to fear. The numbness that comes for some of us from our clinging to the false promises that come with commercialism. The insidious thorns that hide under false blooms of our surrounding ourselves with possessions we do not need while others hunger and thirst. How hard the world tries to “get in between” us when soon we begin to look at each other as commodities to be consumed or dispensed when our need can no longer be satisfied. When the world “gets in between us” it tends to be mean, a mean place to be.
Sweet Little Jesus Boy drops right into the middle of all of that. Drops in with the invitation to “know” him. Drops in wrapped in the most powerful of all antidotes to the world’s cynicism and ruthlessness. Draped in literal humility and the embodiment of true Love, the word made flesh consumes our hearts to beat faster and love wider. To “know him” is to find a simple courage. A courage to receive Love and Be Love. A courage to get the world out of the way of the kindness and compassion we have all been gifted to share.
Sweet Little Jesus Boy
