‘Twas the Night of the Advent

                         ‘Twas the Night of the Advent

‘Twas the night of the Advent, when all in the house,

Not a man was secure, not even his spouse;

Stories of the Torah were told with great care,

In hopes that Yahweh would be merciful and fair;

The children were holding by whimsical threads,

While visions of Heaven danced in their heads;

Shepherds in the field keeping watch over sheep,

With a virgin in hard labor with no prospect of sleep;

When up in the sky there arose such a clatter,

The shepherd sprang up to see what’s the matter;

Away from the far Heavens just like a flash,

Angels opened the sky and threw back the sash;

The night sky illumed with glorious angels aglow,

Gave a brilliance to shepherds living far below;

When that to their amazement did suddenly appear,

But a multitude of angels that made shepherds fear;

Do not fear at all, just believe and behold,

I bring great tidings of God’s story soon to unfold;

To mere shepherds of men the angel suddenly came,

And proclaimed with glory of tidings by name;

“For there is one born in Bethlehem on this great day,

The city of David, a King Eternal all will soon say;

One who will be the Savior, of glory and grace,

You will see him plainly as you look in His face;

He is in swaddling of a stable’s manger not far,

Go now and hurry before appears morning star;

Praising God, the angels proclaimed great glory,

As they told the shepherds of Christ’s story;

Glory to God in the Highest, and peace to men,

Who now have a Savior to save from their sin;

Let us now go and see this wondrous sight,

Out of the fields and run straight into the night;

Prophets long since foretold and have sworn,

Never a worry, Jesus our Messiah is now born.

by Harry L. Whitt