Happy Christmas from Sheffield Cathedral!
We invite you to join us in your Cathedral this Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus, a bright light full of hope and love.
The First Mercy
Ox and ass at Bethlehem
On a night, ye know of them:
We were only creatures small
Hid by shadows on the wall.
We were swallow, moth and mouse;
The Child was born in our house,
And the bright eyes of us three
Peeped at His Nativity.
Hands of peace upon that place
Hushed our beings for a space
Quiet feet and folded wing,
Nor a sound of anything.
With a moving star we crept
Closer when the Baby slept:
Men who guarded where He lay
Moved to frighten us away.
But the Babe, awakened, laid
Love on things that were afraid,
With so sweet a gesture He
Called us to His company.
- Bruce Blunt