Music Messages

"Away in a Manger"

"This beautiful hymn is usually considered a children’s carol, yet its beauty and power is loved equally by people of all ages.  All of us can pray, ‘I love you, Lord Jesus!  Stay close to me tonight

For many years this hymn was attributed to Martin Luther.  The song first appeared in a Lutheran hymnal in the mid 1800’s.  The next publisher to pick it up called it ‘Luther’s Cradle Hymn,’ assuming that since it was anonymous and in a Lutheran hymnal, it must be Luther’s.  But regardless of its author, the beauty of this carol is the beauty of Christmas.  It is simple.  Christmas is not the gold or glitter.  It is the story of God humbling Himself to become a baby, born in crude circumstances to a young woman in ancient Palestine.  Sing this carol softly.  It is what Christmas is all about.”

AWAY IN A MANGER, NO CRIB FOR A BED, THE LITTLE LORD JESUS LAID DOWN HIS SWEET HEAD; THE STARS IN THE SKY LOOKED DOWN WHERE HE LAY, THE LITTLE LORD JESUS, ASLEEP ON THE HAY.

from Great Songs of Faith

by Robert Brown and Mark Norton