December 30

This Little Babe    

by Jill Aldrich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEVBNXXU2eM                                         

This exhilarating song is one of ten movements composed by Benjamin Britten for “A Ceremony of Carols.” This song is composed as a minor key canon (like a round) with an urgent, fast-paced (180 beats per minute) score that complements the lyrics adapted from a poem penned in 1595 by Robert Southwell, a Jesuit priest.

The forceful, war-themed words of this Christmas song contain striking imagery when juxtaposed against a vulnerable baby bringing “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” The sharp contrast between the baby’s shaking cold, weeping eyes, babish cries and the military references to shield, arrows, and battering shot are sung not in men’s deep voices, but in the treble voices of women and children accompanied by the instrument of lullabies, a harp.

The metaphors arouse our wonder at the paradoxes of the incarnation that marks God’s entry into the world to “rifle Satan’s fold.” Jesus warned of Satan’s tactic to “Steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10) and proclaims Himself as the Good Shepherd/Gatekeeper who seeks the lost and returns them safely to the fold of God. In the foretold “something new” plan of God (Isaiah 43:19) at the vulnerable, feeble-fleshed baby “the gates of Hell he will surprise.” Indeed! This is truly an unexpected, astonishing way to save the world!

The song ends with an invitation for us to join Christ in this spiritual battle (Eph. 6:12). The songs last two lines switch to a major key in a victorious, sustained, harmonious crescendo declaring this little babe as the One who “foils our foe.” So, rejoice with great JOY this Christmas, as this song entreats, for Jesus has already won the battle!