Away in a Manger

Christmas Carols Explained, #17

I’m gonna let Bing and Kathryn croon this one out, though they don’t go through too many verses on it. Their version lasts less than a minute and a half.

“Away in a Manger” is one of the oldest and most common Christmas carols. It comes to us through the Lutheran faith, with the traditional belief that this was Martin Luther’s own infant lullaby, but this may be apocryphal; its first record in print was dated to 1885 in “The Christian Cynosure” by the Evangelical Lutheran Church right here in America.

The English lyrics were written at different times by different men, with the first two verse being attributed to James Ramsey Murray, and the third being added by John Thomas MacFarland in 1904. The music was adapted by William J. Kirkpatrick from a traditional cradle song.

I think the simplest and purest message of the song is that the Prince of Peace Himself was even peaceful as a newborn, not crying Himself to sleep or waking up with fits in the night. (Many a parent can dare to dream.) It gives us one more way to find solace in Christ and how He lived.