Saturday, December 17, 2011

Some Children See Him

I was listening to one of my James Taylor Christmas albums on my way home from work yesterday.  It's a nice collection of songs an carols sung as only JT can sing them.  One of the carols is particularly interesting to me...it's reminiscent of the old Sabbath School song:  "Jesus loves the little children--all the children of the world:  red and yellow, black, and white--all are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  The thing about this carol, though, is that it takes all the children of the world and talks about how they see Jesus, kind of reverse from the song:

Some children see Him lily white,
the baby Jesus born this night.
some children see Him lily white,
with tresses soft and fair.


Some children see Him bronzed and brown
The Lord of heav'n to earth come down.
Some children see Him bronzed and brown,
with dark and heavy hair.


Some children see Him almond-eyed,
this Savior whom we kneel beside.
Some children see Him almond-eyed,
with skin of yellow hue.


Some children see Him dark as they
sweet Mary's Son to whom we pray.
some children see him dark as they,
and, ah! they love Him, too!


The children in each different place
will see the baby Jesus' face
like theirs, but bright with heavenly grace,
and filled with holy light.


O lay aside each earthly thing
and with thy heart as offering,
come worship now the infant King.
'Tis love that's born tonight!

Coming from a school where we had more than 50 countries represented between the staff and students, I can understand why some might think that Jesus sees us as we see Him, with His traits the same as ours, whatever they might be.  But truth is, He sees beyond our surface traits.  In fact, He covers our traits with His, so that in the end, He sees our face like His, sees His righteousness instead of our sinfulness.  'Tis love beyond compare that was born that night.  'Tis the most amazing gift!  I'm so glad that He sees us from His perspective instead of ours, aren't you?

3 comments:

Morning's Minion said...

I learned three of the Alfred Burt carols in the late 1950's--Some Children See Him, The Star Carol, O, Hearken, Ye. My late mother, a music teacher and choir leader often received samples of recently published music, so I think this was our introduction to these. A few years later my Dad bought Tennesee Ernie Ford's Christmas album which featured these.
Its a shame they aren't better known.

Gathering Around the Table said...

I love this post and also love James Taylor's version of this carol. Merry Christmas and enjoy your holidays and your break.

R. Aastrup said...

I read the story about Alfred Burt and all the carols he wrote, mostly for his family. Very interesting! I don't think I've heard any others, but perhaps might recognize them if I hear them (again).

Merry Christmas to both you and Christy!