I got YoYo Ma’s Christmas CD at Starbucks a few weeks ago and it was this song that most gripped me. The music is beautiful, the instrumentation is perfect and I love Allison Krauss’ voice. Her music is often rich with Christian thought. But the words to this carol caught me this morning:

Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done,
In sending His beloved Son.
With Mary holy we should pray
To God with love this Christmas Day;
In Bethlehem upon that morn
There was a blest Messiah born.

Near Bethlehem did shepherds keep
Their flocks of lambs and feeding sheep;
To whom God’s angels did appear
Which put the shepherds in great fear.
“Prepare and go”, the angels said,
“To Bethlehem, be not afraid;
For there you’ll find, this happy morn,
A princely Babe, sweet Jesus born.”

With thankful heart and joyful mind,
The shepherds went this babe to find,
And as God’s angel has foretold,
They did our Savior Christ behold.
Within a manger He was laid,
And by His side the virgin maid
Attending on the Lord of Life,
Who came on earth to end all strife.

Merry Christmas. Wonder at the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God.