Supplement to Lincoln Daily News.com
2013 Worship Guide
Page 17
Zion Lutheran Church
“Away in a Manger”
he church is just about over-
flowing, the lights are slightly
darkened, and this night there
is no hope of stilling the quiet
murmur that hovers over the assembled
congregants and
family members.
Someone stand-
ing in the back of
the church would
observe the heads
and shoulders of
people, like the
waters of Lake
Michigan on a
windy day, bob-
bing up and down
and swaying side
to side.
The murmur stills
to a hushed whis-
per as bent-over
preschool through
kindergarten Sun-
day school teach-
ers 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 congrega-
tion, dressed in their Christmas best:
girls in new dresses, boys with clip-on
ties, all with shiny shoes and hair that is
co b d, brushed and curled.
Through the fidgeting, the squirming
and outright terror of so many big peo-
ple staring at them, the children launch
forth and sing “Away in a Manger,” com-
plete with arm motions and voices bare-
ly in unison. It is
wonderful in our
eyes.
Often when we
think of the hymn
“Away in a Man-
ger,” the afore-
mentioned scene
is what pops into
many people’s
minds. A beloved
cradlesong, asso-
ciated with be-
loved 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
Yes, Jesus is “over yonder in a feeding
trough for animals.” He is in a feeding
trough because he ha to be born in
