Please stand as the solo voice begins. 

Marianne Packer, soloist (5 p.m.)
Chloe Fortune, soloist (8 p.m.)

1. Soloist only

Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.

2. All

He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall.
With the poor and meek and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy. 

3. All

And through all his wondrous child-
hood He would honor and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly Maiden,
In whose gentle arms he lay;
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as he.

4. All

Jesus is our childhood’s pattern,
Day by day like us he grew.
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew.
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.

5. All

And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love; 
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone. 

6. All

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.

Words, stanzas 1-2 and 4-6, C. F. Alexander
Words, stanza 3, J. W. McCrady
Tune, Irby
Harmonization, H. J. Gauntlett
Descant, David Willcocks