Rejoice!!

O Lord, You Were Born
By Ann Weems

Each year about this time I try to be sophisticated
and pretend I understand the bored expressions
relating to the Christmas spirit.
I nod when they say Put the Christ back in Christmas.
I say yes, yes when they shout Commercial and
Hectic, hectic, hectic.

After all, Im getting older,
and Ive heard it said, Christmas is for children.
But somehow a fa-la-la keeps creeping out.
So Ill say it:
I love Christmas tinsel
and angel voices that come from the beds upstairs.
And I say three cheers for Santa Claus
and the Salvation Army bucket
and all the wrappings and festivities
and special warm feelings.
I say it is good,
giving,
praising,
celebrating.

So hooray for Christmas trees
and candlelight
and the good old church pageant.
Hooray for shepherd boys who forget their lines
and Wise Men whose beards fall off
and a Mary who giggles.
O Lord, you were born!

O Lord, you were born!
And that breaks in upon my ordered life like bugles blaring,
And I sing, Hark, the Herald Angels
In the most unlikely places.
You were born and I will celebrate!

I rejoice for the carnival of Christmas!
I clap for the pajama-clad cherubs
And the Christmas cards jammed in the mail slot.
I o-o-oh for the turkey
And a-a-ah for the Christmas pudding.
And thank God for the alleluias I see in the faces of people
I dont know and yet know very well.

O Lord, there arent enough choirboys to sing what I feel.
There arent enough trumpets to blow.
O Lord, I want bells to peal!
I want to dance in the streets of Bethlehem!
I want to sing with the heavenly host!

For unto us a son was given
And he was called God with us!
For those of us who believe,
The whole world is decorated with love!