Prairie Nativity texts & pn by LE
Winter is a striking reality on the Canadian prairies and Christmas takes on a special character because of this, as I rediscovered in the winter of 1990 when I spent a year on a teaching exchange in Manitoba, the province of my birth. In Prairie Nativity I have taken two of the overwhelming realities of the Manitoba winter—snow and Northern Lights—as images of Christ’s presence among us. The influence of the Canadian painter William Kurelek is present in both the title and spirit of these pieces.
The biblical promise that the Messiah will make the rough places plain finds a wonderful parable in the quiet snowfalls of the prairie winter, which gently smooth the plough furrows of the previous autumn. The first piece, Winter’s Blanket, uses this image.
The spectacular Northern Lights of the prairie winter are a wonderful metaphor, a possible image of the promise of Christ, that He will bring light into the night of our lives. Of his painting, Arctic Madonna and Child, Kurelek writes: “I myself once saw a whole sky full of these dancing, bewitching nuances of colour…It was so breathtaking, the only truly appropriate reaction seemed to be to whisper an Alleluia.” Such a response is the starting point for the second piece.
The third piece is reminiscence—a memory of leaving church on a cold, late Christmas eve. The sound of Silent Night is still in the air outside the village church, small clouds of vapour signal each breath, white snow crunches under foot, the Northern Lights shine through the crisp air, and Christ has come!
IWinter’s blanket
Snow falls softly whispering
Gently soothing furrowed fields
Winter’s blanket, quiet warmth
Comfort to the sleeping earth.
Moon and stars like crystal shine
Celebrating winter’s sky
Sheets of colour fill the night
Giving light to all the world.
Christ comes gently, silently
Resting humbly here with us
Bringing warmth to wintry hearts
Christ our comfort, heavenly king. -LE
IIWinter Light
Across the cold still blackness
Sheets of colour dazzle
Like crystals dancing
In the long winter night.
Into our own still blackness
Shines the Saviour’s glory
Piercing darkness
With an everlasting light. -LE
IIIHoly Night
Come dwell with us this silent night
Like winter snow come down to earth
Like midnight dancing with new light
Radiant child
Holy infant tender and mild,
Bring us heavenly peace. -LE