The second track in our Meditation on the Incarnation playlist, “Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendour”, is a meditation on Christ’s incarnation written in the early 1900’s. It is similar to the apostle Paul’s Christ hymn in Philippians 2, when he writes:

Though he was God,
He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
He took the humble position of a slave
And was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
He humbled himself in obedience to God
And died a criminal’s death on a cross.  
Phil. 2:6-8

The God of the universe, who made every human being, made himself human.  And he didn’t drop out of the sky, strong and powerful like Marvel’s Thor, but put himself inside another human being. Enmeshing himself with us, in hiddenness and vulnerability.  

For me, the Christmas story can get so familiar that I forget how astounding it is.

How surprising. 

It is helpful to have meditations like this hymn that remind me to wonder, to be in awe of this God who is beyond all splendour, yet made himself poor. He is beyond all praising—all the praise on heaven and on earth would never fully express how great he is—yet he became a finite man. We can (and will!) sing of his love for eternity, and never exhaust the song. Even the formal (and a bit archaic) wording of the hymn makes me pause and ponder the mystery and the surprise of the Christmas story.  

Jill, for Ordinary Time

Listen to “Thou Who Wast Rich” ( Spotify, applemusic,  Bandcamp )

Thou Who Wast Rich
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour, 
All for love's sake becamest poor; 
Thrones for a manger didst surrender, 
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor. 
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour, 
All for love's sake becomes poor. 

Thou who art God beyond all praising, 
All for love's sake becamest man; 
Stooping so low, but sinners raising 
Heavenwards by thine eternal plan. 
Thou who art God beyond all praising, 
All for love's sake becamest man. 

Thou who art love beyond all telling, 
Saviour and King, we worship thee. 
Emmanuel, within us dwelling, 
Make us what thou wouldst have us be. 
Thou who art love beyond all telling, 
Saviour and King, we worship thee.

from In The Town Of David by Ordinary Time, released December 1, 2006 Frank Houghton (1894-1972)

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