December 23: Holy Child
♫ Music:
Day 24 - Tuesday, December 23
Title: Holy Child
Scripture #1: Luke 2:34–35 (NKJV)
“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Scripture #2: Acts 4:30 (KJV)
By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
Poetry & Poet:
from “Pietá”
by Mary Ellis Peltz (Opdycke)
One world, wrapped in two selves,
Lacking nothing—
Unity.
How Long I know not, for there was no time:
Infinite cycles passed in a twinkling,
And I relived ages I never knew.
I was the teeming earth that God had made,
I was the ark that he had not destroyed,
I was the Kingdom of our Israel,
I was the many-voiced Miriam,
The golden calf and the tables of stone;
I was the power of Jezebel and Jael,
And Sheba's gold.
Upflooding through my body,
Great swinging currents bore me out to depths
I never knew could be.
Garments enfolded me of satin sheen, heavy with gold;
Perfumes, sweeter than incense, wafted me
Whither great words and beautiful knelt to my bidding;
And delicate thought, ideas more tenuous
Than any of my ken as maid.
And all these beings that were me,
And all these things,
Whirled through me
Ever more effulgent,
Instantly and completely,
Crashing and clinging,
Mysterious and magical,
Turning and shining;
More various, more shimmering,
More cruel in the agony they tore from me,
More scarlet in their ecstasy,
Piled ever higher
Toward some uncharted summit of enchantment
Where joy and pain are one
When
Suddenly
As a twig snaps
It was gone;
And I lay cold,
Mary the girl,
The simple girl,
The girl whose words and thoughts
Were of the common day and night.
I opened my eyes.
Slowly and stupidly I looked about
Where had it come from?
Far into the East
Against the paling sky
I saw a bird,
A whiter bird than ever flew in Palestine,
Fly till it met the sun.
Holy Child
In a video interview produced by Wheaton College, figurative painter and Professor Emeritus, Joel Sheesley explains how his painting O Magnum Mysterium was inspired by the Portinari Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes and the liturgical chant of the same name, O Magnum Mysterium (1). Sheesley pays homage to Van der Goes by depicting the Christ child laying on the ground. The Christ child lies swaddled and is just off center in the painting, creating a sense of anticipation, yearning, and mystery. Contrary to Van der Goes’ altarpiece, which was painted as a commission for Tommaso di Folco Portinari and includes renderings of an abundance of delicate embroidery and luxurious fabrics, the only fabric in Sheesley’s painting is the swaddling clothes on Jesus (2). In Portinari’s Altarpiece, we are enamored by the wings of the angels, satin of dresses, and the roughness of the shepherds’ clothes. In Sheesley’s painting, we perceive the hardness of the earth, pools of water, the plain cloth swaddled around Jesus, the wool of the lamb and the smoothness of the coat of the cow.
O Magnum Mysterium is a responsory chant sung during Christmas Matins. Sheesley explains that his painting was informed by its lyrics:
O Great mystery,
And wonderful sacrament,
That animals should see the newborn Lord,
Lying in a manger! (3)
The form of a responsory has the respond, or refrain, and the verse. Typically, this genre of chant is first sung by one singer or small group, and then the other part sung by the congregation (4). In Sheesley’s painting, the Christ child laying on the ground seems to sing out the first note, and then elicits the necessary response from the animals. Come near. Come drink. Come see.
In a similar manner but different, one of our musical selections for today, “What Child is This/Child of the Poor,” performed by McKenzie and Reilly Zamber, is sung in a round with two voices. The first singing the traditional song “What Child is This” coupled with the second singing “Child of the Poor” (lyrics of both written by William Chatterton Dix). The piece is a beautiful overlay of woven melody and warp and weft of lyrics: Christ came to the world as a baby, adored by shepherds and angels, and Christ comes to the world for the lowly, the sorrowful, and the poor.
Earlier this Fall, I had the opportunity to visit Durham, North Carolina and attend a Sunday morning worship service in the Duke University Chapel. The chapel was full; pews filled with Sunday worshippers, students, and those of us who were guests attending as part of the conference. Toward the beginning of the service, choir members entered from the back singing, walking single file down the central aisle, the melody reverberating in the tall stone space of the cathedral. And then, we, the congregation joined in the singing! It was tremendous! Our voices all in unison filled that cathedral space, wafted up resonant, bringing forth the beauty of our shared song.
What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Luke tells us that Jesus was “destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel (…) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34) And in Acts, the disciples and other believers respond, following Christ’s example by “stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." (Acts 4:30). When I celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas, what will my response be? How will I draw near? What areas of poverty reside in my own heart? How will I stretch forth my hand? Where is Jesus inviting me to give to those who have nothing to offer?
What child is this? His name is Jesus. He came as a baby. Wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, or maybe on the ground. His birth rings out the melody. Will I join in the responsory? Will I, like the animals, join in the song? Will we?
Prayer:
O Come, O Come, and be our God-with-us
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name,
Come Root, and Key, and King, and Holy Flame.
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.
(Guite, Malcolm, “O Emmanuel.” Waiting on the Word: A poem a day for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, by Malcolm Guite, Canterbury Press, 2015, p. 87/December 23)
Footnotes:
1. Sheesley, Joel. “O Magnum Mysterium,” published by Wheaton College. Vimeo, accessed by Kari Dunham 11 October 2025. https://vimeo.com/64734122
2.“The Portinari Triptych by Hugo van der Goes,” Le Gallerie degli Uffizi, https://www.uffizi.it/en/online-exhibitions/portinari-triptych#2. Accessed by Kari Dunham 11 October 2025.
3. Sheesley, Joel. “O Magnum Myseterium.” Ibid.
4. “Responsory,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsory. Accessed by Kari Dunham 11 October 2025.
Kari Dunham, M.F.A.
Adjunct Professor of Art
Biola University
About the Artwork:
O Magnum Mysterium (O Great Mystery)
Joel Sheesley
2012
Oil on canvas
72 x 44 in.
Private Collection
Used with permission from the artist
Artist Joel Sheesley’s painting O Magnum Mysterium was inspired by the ancient Christmas chant of the same title and also by the painting the Portinari Altarpiece by Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes (1430/1440–1482), now found in in the Galleria Degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy. Sheesley wanted to create “a beautiful reflection on the meaning of the incarnation, which is significant not just for human beings but for the entire creation.”
About the Artist:
Joel Sheesley's paintings address a variety of themes having to do with the human person's connection to place and culture. Sheesley graduated from Syracuse University with a B.F.A. and graduated with an M.F.A. in painting and printmaking from the University of Denver. He retired in 2016 with the rank of professor after forty-two years of teaching art at Wheaton College in Illinois. Now retired from teaching, he continues as a professor emeritus and is still painting and speaking. Sheesley received Wheaton's Senior Scholar Achievement Award in 2000 and an Illinois Artist Fellowship Grant in 2002.
http://www.joelsheesley.com/
https://www.foxvalleyartshalloffame.org/inductees-2/jcshee
About the Music #1A and 1B: “What Child is This?” with “Child of the Poor” from the album Songs of Winter
Lyrics #1A and #1B:
[Female voice]:
What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
[Male voice]:
Helpless and hungry, lowly afraid,
Wrapped in the chill of mid-winter.
Comes now among us,
Born into poverty's embrace, new life for the world.
[Both voices]:
Who is this who lives with the lowly,
Sharing their sorrows, knowing their hunger?
This is Christ, revealed to the world,
In the eyes of a child, a child of the poor.
[Female voice]:
What child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
[Male voice]:
Who is the stranger here in our midst,
Looking for shelter among us?
Who is the outcast?
Who do we see amidst the poor,
The children of God?
[Female voice]:
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.
[Male voice]:
Who is this who lives with the lowly,
Sharing their sorrows, knowing their hunger?
This is Christ, revealed to the world,In the eyes of a child, a child of the poor.
[Both voices]:
So, bring him incense, gold, and myrrh,
Come, peasant, king, to own him;
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone him.
[Both voices]:
Bring the thirsty,
All who seek peace;
Those with nothing to offer.
Strengthen the feeble, say to the
Frightened heart:
“Fear not: here is your God!”
[Male voice]:
Who is this who lives with the lowly,
Sharing their sorrows, knowing their hunger?
This is Christ, revealed to the world,
In the eyes of a child, a child of the poor.
[Female voice]:
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary.
A child of the poor,
The favored son of Mary
About the Composers of Music #1A: “What Child is This?” lyrics by William Chatterton Dix, music set to “Greensleeves,” a traditional English folk song
William Chatterton Dix (1837–1898) was an English writer of hymns and carols. He was educated at the Grammar School, Bristol, for a mercantile career, and became manager of a maritime insurance company in Glasgow, Scotland, where he spent most of his life. His original hymns are found in most modern hymnbooks. His hymns and carols also include “As with Gladness Men of Old,” “What Child Is This?,” “To You, O Lord, Our Hearts We Raise,” and “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus.” At the age of twenty-nine he was struck with a near-fatal illness and consequently suffered months confined to his bed. During this difficult time he wrote many of his hymns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Chatterton_Dix
https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Biographies/william_chatterton_dix.htm
"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationers' Company in September 1580 and the tune is found in several late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century sources. “Greensleeves” is the tune for the classic Christmas carol "What Child Is This?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensleeves
About the Composers of Music #1B: “Child of the Poor,” lyrics by William Chatterton Dix, music by Scott Soper
Scott Soper is an extraordinarily gifted musician, composer, and teacher. A native of Maine, Scott studied music at Ithaca College in New York. A multi-instrumentalist, he has performed extensively on piano, organ, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, flute, oboe, and recorder. He spent several years teaching in public and parochial schools in New England. Involved in church music since his teen years, he has served as director of music at parishes in Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, and Maine. Scott has written some of the most beloved songs for worship in the church today, including “Loving and Forgiving,” “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” “Child of the Poor,” and “To You, O Lord.” After years serving as director of music at various parishes, Scott now lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is a music development specialist for OCP, Oregon Catholic Press.
https://www.ocp.org/en-us/artists/261/scott-soper
About the Performers #1A/B:
The Hound + The Fox is the American music duo McKenzie Zamber and Reilly Zamber, husband and wife, from Grants Pass, Oregon. Reilly does all of their recording, instrumentation, mixing, and editing, while McKenzie is the primary songwriter and something of a manager for H+F. For years they harnessed their video production skills producing videos for artists such as Pentatonix, Peter Hollens, Home Free, Simply Three, and Taylor Davis.
https://www.houndfoxmusic.com/
About the Music #2: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” from the album Christmas Hymns
Lyrics #2:
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years,
Are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary;
And, gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep,
Their watch of wond'ring love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.
O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in;
Be born to us today.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!
Oh Emmanuel!
About the Composer #2:
Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. One of the most popular preachers of the Gilded Age, he worked to make the Christian Church more relevant to contemporaries. Among his other accomplishments, he wrote the lyrics of the Christmas hymn, "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Brooks
About the Performer #2:
Stephen McWhirter is a singer-songwriter and an ardent follower of Jesus. Stephen's testimony of Jesus taking him from addiction to redemption is a central part of his ministry. His song “Come Jesus Come” has amassed over eighty million views across TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
https://worshipjesus.life/about
About the Poetry & Poet:
Mary Ellis Peltz (Opdycke) (1896–1981) was an American drama and music critic, magazine editor, poet, and writer on the subject of music. She was educated at the Spence School and Barnard College. At the age of twenty-four, she joined the staff of The New York Sun as an assistant music critic. She left the paper in 1924 when she married John DeWitt Peltz. She later worked for The Junior League Magazine as a drama critic while she published poetry and articles in a variety of other publications, including Harper's Magazine, Poetry, and Vogue. In 1936 she became the first chief editor of Opera News, a position she held until 1957 when she founded the Metropolitan Opera's archives and served as director of the archives from 1957 to 1981.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ellis_Peltz
About the Devotion Author:
Kari Dunham, M.F.A.
Adjunct Professor of Art
Biola University
Kari Dunham is an adjunct art professor at Biola University, Laguna College of Art + Design, and Irvine Valley College. Kari earned her M.F.A. in painting from Laguna College of Art + Design. Through her practice of painting ordinary inanimate objects, she gives voice to the quiet corners and objects of the home, describing the “thingness” that is these objects and how they embody human presence and absence. Kari attends Church by the Sea in Laguna Beach and enjoys contributing to the creative life of the church.