Then Sings My Soul Saturday

Rose Of Bethlehem

I love Christmas, particularly the music associated with this time of year. What began as a love for the traditional hymns and carols has expanded to include the secular as well. I start listening to Christmas music sometime in mid-August. Many of you are shaking your heads much like my husband. I know. But in my defense, I don't subject anyone else to my sickness...I only listen to it in the privacy of my own car.

Mostly.

Anyway, the song I'm posting about today embodies the entire point of Christmas. I love having a special time set aside to celebrate the incarnation of our God, and to redirect my mind to that lowly stall where He was born amidst cattle and put in a feeding trough to sleep. The fear that must have consumed Mary as she waited for His birth and the incredible joy she felt as she held Him in her arms. The absolute miracle that God would send His son to live and breath among us and to show us the way back to Him.

But just as Easter is meaningless without the incarnation, Christmas means nothing without the cross, and our praise and joy for the birth of our Savior should be seen through it's shadow. This song captures the very essence of why we are able to come before the throne of God.

There's a Rose in Bethlehem
With a beauty quite divine
Perfect in this world of sin
On this silent holy night

There's a fragrance much like hope
That it sends upon the wind
Reaching out to every soul
From a lowly manger's crib

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem
How lovely, pure, and sweet
Born to glorify the Father
Born to wear the thorns for me

There's a Rose in Bethlehem
Colored red like mercy's blood
'Tis the flower of our faith
'Tis the blossom of God's love

Though its bloom is fresh with youth
Surely what will be He knows
For a tear of morning dew
Is rolling down the Rose

Oh, Rose of Bethlehem
How lovely, pure, and sweet
Born to glorify the Father
Born to wear the thorns for me

There's a Rose in Bethlehem
With a beauty quite divine
Perfect in this world of sin
On this silent holy night