Away in a manger no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus lay down His sweet head
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay

On this day, Christmas Eve, many of us will be scrambling about as we wrap up (literally) everything in preparation for Christmas Day. As we’ve been looking at these Christmas Carols over the last couple of week, the goal has been to consider the meaning of Christmas expressed in song.

Away in a manger gives us another look at the humble beginnings for the Messiah. Instead of a crib, Mary made do with what she had. she “wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

The One who created all things arrived as a newborn child – helpless and dependent on His parents. Paul captures the essence of what happened in his letter to the Philippians –

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

So, while we celebrate His birth now, we look forward to what is ahead as “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”