A silent baby? No crying? ...No way.

Away in the Manager

A recent sermon by Rev. Dr. Doug Damron

Luke 1:39-56

Our carol for consideration today is sweet and soothing “Away in the Manager,” one of our most beloved and sung Christmas carols in the worship life of the church.  Though Away in the Manager is a close second in tenderness to Silent Night, Away in the Manager has been a source of conflict for music historians for generations.

The controversy centers around who wrote the lyrics to Away in the Manager.  On the one hand there are those who contend the greater Reformer Martin Luther was the lyric writer for this beloved carol.  And on the other side we find music historians who contend it was an anonymous hymn writer whose identity will we never know. 

After studying this issue, I am surprised how passionate I am in my belief that Martin Luther did not write Away in the Manager.  Let to tell you how I come to that conclusion.

Though I’m a proud Methodist, I have always been fascinated by the great reformer of the church and pastor, Martin Luther.  What fascinates me about Luther is his not fitting well into the “pastor stereotype.”  Martin Luther enjoyed his beer.  Luther was renown to sometimes used words that would make a sailor blush.  And Luther was a humorist.   A man who loved to laugh and make others laugh.  Contrary to proper form, Luther used humor in teaching and preaching the Gospel.  Crusty, non-sentimental, Luther possessed what we might call an “earthy spirituality.”

Knowing that Luther as an earthy/realist, I think he have found this line in Away in Manager to be absolutely hilarious, bordering on ridiculous.  “The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.”   Let me get this straight, Luther would have reasoned.  A baby is born on a cold night, in barn, wrapped in clothe bands and laid in a feed box, come on who is going to believe that?

Luther knew something about newborns.  He and his ex-nun wife Katie had four children.  He knew something about newborns, they cry, they wail.  Everyone knows when a baby is born. 

Luther couldn’t have written this line about “no crying he makes” because Luther was a serious student of the Bible.  No where in the Christmas narratives, in Matthew’s story or Luke’s Christmas story, do we get a sense that Jesus was born to be a silent and accommodating presence.   Matter of fact, when read what his Mamma Mary sang about the child she was carrying, you get a sense that this baby was about a crier, a screamer as soon as he was born. 

Listen again to the description Mary had for the baby in her womb.  “His mighty arm has done tremendous things!  He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.  He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.”  What Mary was saying that her baby was going to a spitting image of his Daddy, the God of Israel and the universe.  My baby is coming into the world to shake it up and turn upside down.

The Christ child came into this world with an incredible mission to reclaim creation and return it to its rightful owner, God.  This baby was coming into the world to pry this world out of the clutches of the Satan.  Out of the grip of oppression, violence, greed, and return all of us to our Father. 

I think that first Christmas night baby Jesus was screaming for all to hear.  Your God is hear, you redemption is nigh!  I think a more appropriate, biblical line for this carol would be “the cattle are kicking, Satan is hiding, because little baby Jesus won’t stop crying!”

The Christ child cried when he entered the world, and no mistake about it, the Christ child continues to cry in our world right now.  It seems to me one of the purposes of this Advent season is to so sensitize our spirits so that we can hear the Christ child crying today.  When we hear him crying, we come running. 

When might you hear Christ crying for your attention?  Well, when we encounter one who is least, last, or lost. 

Maybe you will hear the baby crying when you pass the home of a neighbor who lost a loved one this year.  When your baby cries you drop everything and go.  Drop your shopping list and reach out in care.  Find a small way to bless the one who is experiencing a blue Christmas this year.  Be a living expression of Emmanuel—God has drawn close.

While we are moving from party to party, others in our community are moving from doctor to doctor.  Opps, there he goes again, crying again. Caring for those with health concerns is not just the doctor, or the pastor’s job, it is the entire family of faith willing to pray, cook, visit, whatever it takes.  Pick up the baby and ask him what he wants you to do for someone in experiencing a health crisis.

In a minute Stan Prichard (Mission Chair) is going to come and talk to our family about the Christmas Offering and our efforts as a church to bless needy children here and around the globe.  It is going to get as loud as hospital nursery all the crying by the baby.  Every one of us can find a way to significantly support Christian ministries that provide food, clothing, housing, hope to needy kids here, in Namibia, and around the world.  Plan now, if you are able, to give the best Christmas gift to these needy ones you have ever given. 

Friends, enjoy Away in the Manager.  But when you come to that line, you know which one; let that line become an opportunity for prayer.  Lord Jesus, you came crying for a new world.  Enable me to join you in re-making of the entire world.  Amen

Rev. Dr. Doug Damron is Senior Pastor at Epiphany United Methodist Church in Miami Township. Click here to read other Damron Sermons.