Christmas
COME EMBRACE THE CHILD OF CHRISTMAS

Tunes: Rata 8787D
Melody: William L. Wallace
Harmony:Wallace Woodley
Everton 8787D
H. Smart (1813-79)

1. Come embrace the child of Christmas,
   Child of every human birth,
   Birth in stable, ward or dwelling,
   Birth at any place on Earth.
   Every birth is new beginning
   For a mother, father, child;
   Time to celebrate in wonder
   All that’s tender, just and mild.
   

2. As we walk the Christmas pathway
   We find struggle gifts new birth,
   Darkness turns into a brightness
   And affirms our inner worth.
   In the myst’ry we find wisdom,
   In the sorrow rays of peace,
   Our aloneness heralds presence,
   Presence that shall never cease.
   

3. God of wonder and of splendour,
   God of lightness and of grace,
   God of singing and of dancing,
   God of snuggle and embrace,
   May the child of Christmas story
   Lead our spirits to discern
   True forgiveness and thanksgiving
   Form the Way we should affirm.
   

Text © World Library Publications.
Melody © William Livingstone Wallace
Harmony © Wallace Woodley

Click Here for Sheet Music – RATA
Click Here for Sheet Music – EVERTON

Click Here for MP3 – RATA
Click Here for MP3 – EVERTON

Click Here for Full Index to William L. Wallace’s Series Hymns “Cosmic Mystery”

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William (Bill) Livingstone Wallace is a retired New Zealand Methodist Minister and one of our most prolific contributors. Bill says that his work springs from communicating with the fire in his gut and his observation of both the internal and external aspects of the Cosmos. Since an early age, he has been both sympathetic to and critical of the church, announcing at the age of 13 his belief in evolution. In his youth, he struggled with the disconnection between art and spirituality in his own and other denominations and with the way in which all of the liturgies prior to the sermon were regarded as preliminaries and longer sermons were viewed as superior to more concise ones.

He holds a B.A. in philosophy and a Dip. Ed. and is the author of nine published collections of his hymns as well as other resources on our website. His aim is to help people be empowered by the divine within them and the Cosmos and to work to overthrow the forces of personal and institutional greed which destroy both the ecosystem and human society.

Click Here for a Full Biography of William L. Wallace

Click here for a complete list of his work on ProgressiveChristianity.org