WHEN DID I TELL YOU TO REMEMBER ME

Where did I say in my word

Celebrate my lowly birth

Decorate your homes with Christmas trees

Have parties full of mirth

When did I ever tell you

To replace me with another

I know you call him Santa Claus

You can speak his name no bother

Take you children to see him

Promise them gifts galore

If they are very good

They will have what they want and more

No wonder you put a great big X

Where my name should be

Or even call it a holiday

For you dare not mention me

O yes I came in lowly birth

My angels announced it to a few

But if I had not come to die

My birth was no good to you

If I had not shed my precious blood

But had lived then returned to whence I came

A babe, a child then a man not dying

There would be no salvation in my name

But I never told you to remember me

Lying in a bed of straw

But to remember my awful death

When I fulfilled God's holy law

I give you bread to break

To remember my body broken

And ruby red wine to drink

To remember my blood, a token

Yet you would rather remember me

In a lowly stable stall

Or even worse than that

Replace me with Santa Claus and not remember me at all!

Colin Moffett