Advent Day 24: Holy Child

O Magnum Mysterium (O Great Mystery), Joel Sheesley, 2012. Oil on canvas, 72 x 44 in.
Private Collection. Used with permission from the artist.

“What Child is This?” with “Child of the Poor” from the album Songs of Winter. Performed by The Hound + The Fox. “What Child is This?” Lyrics by William Chatterton Dix, music set to “Greensleeves,” a traditional English folk song. “Child of the Poor,” lyrics by William Chatterton Dix, music by Scott Soper.

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” from the album Christmas Hymns. Performed by Stephen McWhirter, composed by Phillips Brooks.

Poetry:

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 paintingO 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

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, please visit our website via the link in our bio.