A Father's Last Wishes in Song
A Christmas Eve text that says it all
As I begin packing up the Christmas decor and think of the year ahead, my brain hasn’t stopped playing the mental soundtrack of a certain German Christmas hymn, one that my father particularly liked. For some reason though, over the years, it rarely got sung in our church services or in the family singing times around the tree.
My father spent his last Christmas Eve & Christmas Day in hospital. He had already outlived by months the time frame the oncologist had guestimated he had left to live, so every day that he was still with us was a blessing in our and his eyes. The day before Christmas Eve, I had been helping him decorate the tree in the living room, when he remembered a medical appointment he was supposed to attend. But due to a broken bone from a fall in the clinic, he was transported to hospital by ambulance. At home, the half-nude tree stood abandoned with the half unpacked boxes scattered around.
This broken bone, and the subsequent pain medications seemed bound to speed along his eternal homecoming. In the hospital, we had some muted family sing-alongs by his bedside. In his blue gown, with reduced lung capacity, he requested the song: Mit den Hirten will ich gehen (With the shepherds I want to travel) and sang-spoke-puffed along with the words to the best of his ability, his blue eyes sparkling brightly as his brain envisioned what his lips were singing.
This song does not seem to appear in the English-language Christmas song repertoire, so below the German text is a translation of its words into English, thanks to our father’s daughters’ pooled talents!
Mit den Hirten will ich gehen
1) Mit den Hirten will ich gehen,
meinen Heiland zu besehen,
meinen lieben heilgen Christ,
der für mich geboren ist.
2) Mit den Engeln will ich singen,
Gott zur Ehre soll es klingen,
von dem Frieden, den er gibt
jedem Herzen, das ihn liebt.
3) Mit den Weisen will ich geben,
was ich Höchstes hab im Leben,
geb zu seligem Gewinn
ihm das Leben selber hin.
4) Mit Maria will ich sinnen
ganz verschwiegen und tief innen
über dem Geheimnis zart:
Gott im Fleisch geoffenbart.
5) Mit dir selber, mein Befreier,
will ich halten Weihnachtsfeier;
komm, ach komm ins Herz hinein,
lass es deine Krippe sein.
Text: Carl Emil Wilhelm Quandt (1880)
Melodie: August Dietrich Rische (1885)
Image sources: Family creche figures with Playmobil background; Jesus carrying the cross from Kinderbibel, Johannes Kiefel Verlag, Wuppertal-Barmen 1973, p. 139; Jesus on the cross, Mary at the cross, Jesus’ resurrection at the tomb all from Arthur S. Maxwell, In Gottes Hand, Vol. 6, 1957 pages 115, 122, 147
https://www.musicalion.com/f/gnr/mf/15/85/95/pdf_to_img/000_v2.png
As sung in German:
With the Shepherds, I want to travel (text in English)
With the shepherds I want to travel to look directly at my Saviour my dearest Lord, the Holy Christ born for me this special night.
With the angels I want to sing To Lord God this honour bring Sing of the Peace He does afford each one who loves Him as the Lord.
With the wise men, I’d turn over the highest that my life can offer, Yes, it’s the most blessed thing To give my very life to him.
With Maria I want to ponder let my silent thoughts turn onward think about His tender secret God made flesh for us concretely.
With you directly, my Holy Saviour I want to rest in Christmas observance Come, oh come Lord into my heart And grant me the peace that You impart.
Soundtrack:
Here is a piano-only version in case someone wants to give the English words a try. Some adjustments are needed to match the notes!
Complete German Text:
Mit den Hirten will ich gehen
1) Mit den Hirten will ich gehen,
meinen Heiland zu besehen,
meinen lieben heilgen Christ,
der für mich geboren ist.
2) Mit den Engeln will ich singen,
Gott zur Ehre soll es klingen,
von dem Frieden, den er gibt
jedem Herzen, das ihn liebt.
3) Mit den Weisen will ich geben,
was ich Höchstes hab im Leben,
geb zu seligem Gewinn
ihm das Leben selber hin.
4) Mit Maria will ich sinnen
ganz verschwiegen und tief innen
über dem Geheimnis zart:
Gott im Fleisch geoffenbart.
5) Mit dir selber, mein Befreier,
will ich halten Weihnachtsfeier;
komm, ach komm ins Herz hinein,
lass es deine Krippe sein.
Our father ended up passing away a few weeks after Christmas. The knowledge that he had surely often been holding his Christmas observance with his Lord was of great comfort to us, the bereaved. This song text allows us all to also travel with the shepherds, angels, and wise men of old, pondering the Saviour’s promises of a heavenly home - promises that gave our father such comfort.