And can this newborn mystery,
An infant learning how to feed,
Defeat the grim and chilling powers
Of domination, death, and sin?
The one whose tiny hands and eyes
Suspend our breath and tug our heart,
Awakens some to joyful praise
While others whisper, Is it true?
For sin infects, deceives, ensnares,
And domination towers and gleams.
And death dispatched to foreign lands
Will turn and find us one and all.
This child full-grown shall shine with love
For outcast, righteous, rich, and poor,
Withstand the powers with healing words,
And then be crushed, betrayed, destroyed.
And some will feel the Spirit's power,
And some will doubt, or cling to faith,
And some will hope but never know,
And some will joyfully believe
And so, with doubt or hope reborn,
Or anxious certainty, or peace,
We worship, trust, and rise to serve
An infant learning how to feed.