While the World Awaited

While the world await­ed God’s re­deem­ing love—

Came to Jo­seph

dream­ing

Ga­bri­el from above:

God would have you take this vir­gin as your wife

For the Child with­in her is the Lord of Life!

Lo! the wea­ry fa­mi­ly tra­vels on its way

To the Ho­ly Ci­ty for the night to stay.

Called for an ac­count­ing un­to Beth­le­hem—

There would the Mes­si­ah bloom from Jes­se’s stem.

Since there was no place for them to set­tle down—

They

with beasts of bur­den

rest­ed on the ground.

And in David’s ci­ty ear­ly that next morn

Clothed in hu­man ves­ture

Word of God was born.

Jesus Christ

our Sav­ior—born up­on this day:

Ox and ass sur­round Your bed of gold­en hay.

In the hum­ble sta­ble

man­ger for Your rest—

Sleep now

in­fant Je­sus

as the world is blest!