Page 12 2013 Home for the Holidays Special edition of LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
T
he church is just about overflowing, the lights
are slightly darkened, and this night there is
no hope of stilling the quiet murmur that hov-
ers over the assembled congregants and family mem-
bers. Someone standing in the back of the church
would observe the heads and shoulders of people,
like the waters of Lake Michigan on a windy day,
bobbing up and down and swaying side to side.
The murmur stills to a hushed whisper as bent-over
preschool through kindergarten Sunday school
teachers patiently guide and shepherd their small
flock to the front, placing them on the steps or the
risers in front of the congregation. There they are,
the children of the congregation, dressed in their
Christmas best: girls in new dresses, boys with clip-
on ties, all with shiny shoes and hair that is combed,
brushed and curled.
Through the fidgeting, the squirming and outright
terror of so many big people staring at them, the
children launch forth and sing “Away in a Manger,”
complete with arm motions and voices barely in
unison. It is wonderful in our eyes.
Often when we think of the hymn “Away in a Man-
ger,” the aforementioned scene is what pops into
many people’s minds. A beloved cradlesong, associ-
ated with beloved memories of Christmases gone
by and the anticipation of Christmases yet to come.
That is good. Yet as St. Paul relates to us, “When
I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a
child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man,
I gave up childish ways.”
1
– 1 Corinthians 13:11
“
A
way in a
M
anger”
