Rock-a-Bye, My Dear Little Boy
 

 Rock-a-bye, my dear little boy, dear little boy,
wonder of wonders, my blessing and joy;
slumber as I gently hold you, let my tender love enfold you;
gift of God to me and the world,

here in my arms lies so peacefully curled.

Little Jesus, Infant Divine, Infant Divine,
one with the Father, yet born to be mine;
as I rock you calmly sleeping, angel guards their watch are keeping;
precious child, one day we shall see,

what love has destined for you and for me. 

Scripture: Luke 2:15-19 (nrsv)

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart (emphasis added).

Rock-a-bye, My Dear Little Boy

John D. Painter

In his devotional last Monday, Eddie Pipkin confessed that his favorite Christmas songs are those with "just a hint of melancholy," carols that are "tinged with an aura of sadness." I shared with him the next day that I had similar feelings, and that the carol I have chosen to share is especially poignant and more than tinged with anticipatory melancholy.

Since the text was composed in 1987 by Jaroslav J. Vajda, this is its first appearance in a United Methodist Hymnal (published in 1989). Vajda, who died in 2008, was a gifted, contemporary American hymn writer born to a Lutheran Pastor of Slovak descent in 1919. In his later years he was acknowledged by many to be "The dean of American hymn writers." He composed or edited more than 200 hymn texts in his lifetime. His texts can be found in 50 different hymnals, and three of them are in our United Methodist Hymnal: No. 122, God of the Sparrow God of the Whale; No. 235, Rock-a-Bye, My Dear Little Boy; and, No. 619, Now the Silence.

Rock-a-Bye, My Dear Little Boy is set to a traditional Czech carol named rocking, which is certainly apropos, given the words. It is a lullaby being sung to the sleeping Jesus by his mother, Mary, as she gently rocks him in her arms. As Luke informs us, following the middle-of-the-night visit of the shepherds from the fields surrounding Bethlehem, Mary was pondering the wonder of Jesus' birth and its meaning. I think Luke knew of her pondering because of what she told him herself. She was an active member of the Jerusalem fellowship of Jesus' followers after his resurrection and the Day of Pentecost.

In the final 20 years of my active ministry in New Jersey, I made certain this beloved (to me) carol was included in a service of worship...usually on Christmas Eve. And, as we sang it, seldom were my eyes dry, especially when we reached that concluding line: "precious child, one day we shall see what love has destined for you and for me." Amidst the joy and the wonder of his birth, Mary slowly (and reluctantly?) comes to the realization that this Child will grow to be an adult and offer himself through divine love (agape) for the redemption of the world. For Mary, there is pain and sadness intermingled with her joy on the night of his birth.

And so it is for us. Many of the most beautiful and meaningful Christmas songs remind us of Christ's death and resurrection, even as they sing out with joy at his birth. I believe Jaroslav Vajda has given us an especially profound glimpse into the beautiful story of our redemption with the gift of this Christmas lullaby. May it touch your hearts this season with the wonder of the gift of love we receive from God. 

Eternal God,
 

by the birth of Jesus Christ you gave yourself to the world.
Grant that, being born in our hearts, he may save us from all our sins,
and restore within us the image and likeness of our Creator,
to whom be everlasting praise and glory, world without end. Amen.

(The United Methodist Hymnal [Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989], #231. A prayer originally from The Book of Hymns, 1966; alt. by Laurence Hull Stookey, alt. � 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House.)