I have always been deeply moved by the stark imagery of the Advent hymn “In the Bleak Mid-Winter”. The first verse paints such a forlorn time, place and mood of desolation and despair.
In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Written in 1872, Christina Rossetti’s poem is timeless –- and I believe particularly relevant today as the misery and sorrow created by this pandemic continues to unceasingly pile up on us like “snow on snow, snow on snow.” Believe it or not, this dreary hymn has long been one of my favorite carols. It elicits such a pensive response and truly awakens the spirit of advent in me. It creates such a feeling of need and a craving for something to break through “earth standing hard as iron … or water like stone.” But one of the incredibly wonderful things about advent is not the waiting –- but the knowledge that our waiting will end in the amazingly powerful triumph of Christmas.
Now that we have these incredible COVID vaccines being manufactured and distributed, I now look at the pandemic through the lens of Advent. The waiting is brutal –- especially here in New England, with no place to go in the bleak midwinter. But my waiting is buttressed by hope and faith that there will be a brilliant light at the end of the tunnel.
And this brings me to another of my absolute favorite Christmas hymns …
Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light,
And usher in the morning;
O shepherds, shrink not with afright,
But hear the angel’s warning.
This Child, now weak in infancy,
Our confidence and joy shall be,
The power of Satan breaking,
Our peace eternal making.
If you have not heard The Roches’ version of this lovely hymn, check them out (to me, it’s like the angels singing).
While I truly do love the season of Advent, a time of waiting and anticipation, if there were no Christmas, no beauteous heavenly light to break through the darkness of the bleak midwinter, the season and that dismal hymn would merely be grim reminders of life without Jesus.
Thank God that our waiting is not in vain!
-Brad Stayton
Sudbury UMC Lenten Devotions 