Hello everyone, and season’s greetings! I apologize that I have not been posting blogs regularly. I promise that this will change in the new year! One of the hobbies I have is to orchestrate hymns for my church’s small orchestra and for Christmas I made an orchestration of “In the Bleak Midwinter,” by Gustav Holst. Now this song is definitely one of my favorite Christmas songs and my favorite Christmas hymn. There are so many great things to love about it. It has such a beautiful and compelling melody, even somewhat melancholy, or, as the title says, bleak. It has even more powerful lyrics that depict the scene of the Savior’s birth. I especially love the very last lines of the song, and that is what I want to talk about today in this blog.
I encourage you to look up or listen to the lyrics of in the “Bleak Midwinter,” but the last verse of the song goes like this:
What then can I give Him? Poor as I am. If I were a shepherd I would bring lamb. If I were a wise men, I would do my part. What then can I give Him? Give Him My heart.
I think that these are perhaps the most powerful lines in the song. The song depicts a powerful savior born into a humble and bleak setting, but still worshipped and adored by angels. Then we come to what can we offer to this Savior, even though we’re poor. Shepherds brought their lambs, wisemen brought expensive gifts, but what can we give Him?
There’s really only one thing that Savior wants, and that’s our heart. Jesus came to this earth, leaving the glory of heaven and worship of angels to be born in a stable. Think of the tremendous sacrifice He made just coming down here. He came to save us, to redeem us, and all He wants in return is our love, the love He has shown to us. I think that is really powerful.
But how does this relate to us? Those who have been traumatized by crime, by people in the faith? For us it’s more than the love we can bring to this Savior who first loved us. It’s our broken hearts that we can bring to Him to mend. I think we’re all familiar with the promise Jesus gives to those who will come to Him found in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Also there are so many promises in the Psalms about going to God for healing. Like Psalm 147:3, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds,” or this promised in 34:18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.”
Jesus promises to fix your brokenhearted and to mend your wounds. So this Christmas gift exchange, I encourage you to give your heart to Jesus. He can give you peace and healing. He gave us the greatest gift of all, what then can we give Him? Our traumas. Our pain. Our heart.
Happy Holidays from all of us at CY CHRIST
Helpful Scriptures
Matthew 11:28-30
Psalm 147:3
Psalm 34:18