The First Noel Verse 5

They entered in those Wise Men three

Full reverently on bended knee

And offered there in His presence 

 Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.

 Noel (4X) Born is the King of Israel.

There is a lot of good poesy in this song, now that I really look at the details.  The "His Presence" and "frankincense" rhyme is classic skill.  It's much cheaper to do a word that's difficult to rhyme and THEN fumble with "how on earth are they going to rhyme THAT?" before coming up with a strange or pseudo-rhyme.  Good for a laugh in the hands of the right actor (or dramatic reader).  But real skill?

Have a phrase that could easily be rephrased into something simpler and build suspense.  Why on earth go with an unwieldy rhyme like "presence" when...oh...because you wanted to end with frankincense.  Nice!  You made "frankincense" sound like the natural next step in an AABB rhyme pattern.  NOT EASY.  Usually they hide that word right in the middle of a line.

I think that's not as meaningful as other poetic bits I've found in this song, but it's nice to have talented people writing your hymns.  A lot of modern stuff sounds really repetitive, simplistic, and even kinda dumb.  It's heart is in the right place, but honestly -- is that all we're looking for in worship?  Also, Christian rock hasn't resembled contemporary rock for over a decade.  Switch it up.

Moving away from that rant: yesterday I talked about how the Wise Men weren't getting what they were expecting.  You'd never know it from their recorded reaction here.  They stuck to their script, in many ways, even though they were in a stable bending over a manger rather than before a throne or in a palace.  They offered their gifts all the same, honored to be here.

It's strange to think of any reaction to the shocking thing that God did as gracious, but part of me associates that with their story.  It's a kind of grace, after all, to accept God and God's will as you find them.  Not trying to insist that they be what you think they ought to have been.  Even when they seem to make a mockery of the gifts you thought you had to offer.

Boy howdy does teaching do this to you.  All the accomplishments and skills you are so proud of -- so often it's more a matter of "but for the Grace of God" I would have really fouled that kid up.

Those gifts are wonderful (if a little on the nose) for a king, a God, and a divine sacrifice. For a poor child born with his parents on enforce pilgrimage?  In a barn?  The Wise Men must have felt like fools.  Not, perhaps, for traveling all this way, but for having only gilded baubles to bring to this very down-to-Earth (literally!) God.

Will all our precious gifts of the Holy Spirit and talents and accomplishments and hard-won or freely given virtues someday look like that in God's presence?  Will we feel like idiot children who value all the wrong things?  Will all our elegant refined gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh look just as silly as the grapes and tennis balls of the fictional shepherds in Second Shepherd's Play?

Or were the gifts actually perfect in a way human eyes aren't equipped to see?  Will our talents transcend all that and be valuable after all in ways we couldn't have guessed?

What will all of our gifts look like on the day of the Second Coming?  Silly, worthless things for us to have been so proud of?  Or something far more fitting and symbolic and transcendent than we could have originally imagined?