I came across this Christmas Hymn written by Thomas Troeger which I read at our Christmas Eve Service. I had pointed out the minor role but godly faithfulness of Jesus' step father, Joseph. "The Hands that First Held Mary's Child" (1985) The hands that first held Mary's child were hard from working wood, from boards they sawed and planed and filed and splinters they withstood. This day they gripped no tool of steel, they drove no iron nail, but cradled from the head to heel our Lord, newborn and frail. When Joseph marveled at the size of that small breathing frame, and gazed upon those bright new eyes and spoke the infant's name, the angel's words he once had dreamed poured down from heaven's height, and like the host of stars that beamed blessed earth with welcome light. "This child shall be Emmanuel, not God upon the throne, but God with us, Emmanuel, as close as blood and bone." The tiny form in Joseph's pa