when a child is born (2)

The easy thing would be to say, "i don't know why this song has been so resonant for me this Christmas" -- but we all know that good writing is never easy. The truth is that i just encountered a wonderful instance of kismet two days ago that convinced me that nothing is beyond God's grace, that even the ugliest, darkest, most apparently hopeless situation can eventually resolve itself into something that can be light, can be hope.
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Things can always change -- and not only for the worse, but also for the better. It's not just Star Wars that can lay claim to "a new hope". And so the lyrics of this song have been circling in my head ever since midnight mass last evening.
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i love this particular performance. i even love the mistake they make in the last verse -- it's the flaw that makes for perfection. i've never heard this song sung so poignantly before. So much grief and hope and yearning aching in their voices, shining in their eyes. i guess you have to have seen hell before you can know what it means to thirst for the grace of God.
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And i love that audience singalong. There's such a quiet joy about it. i like to think this is what Christmas should be about.
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