I Wander, and … I Wonder:

A Pilgrim’s Observance of the Holy Nativity

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor ord’nary people like you and like I.
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.
American Folklorist, John Jacob Niles, 1933

My last few commentaries have reflected on the chosen direction and destination of a pilgrim’s path, contrasted with the life of a wandering itinerant Galilean peasant sage; whose vision of “deliverance” was to a “promised land” of a different sort (here here).

As we observe the perennial Feast of the Holy Nativity (aka Christ’s Mass), we know the tale includes three stargazers who were deemed to be wise; and who followed a star-lit path to an unlikely destination.

But in addition, there were also just poor, ordinary (or ornery) folk like you and like me, who wondered as we wandered just where the Galilean sage might better lead us next.

I Wonder as I Wander: The Traditional Carol

When Mary birthed Jesus ‘twas in a cow’s stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all;
But high from God’s heaven, a star’s light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

In the composer’s unfinished autobiography, Appalachian folklorist, John Jacob Niles wrote:

“I Wonder As I Wander” grew out of three lines of music sung for me by a girl who called herself Annie Morgan. The place was Murphy, North Carolina, and the time was July 1933. The Morgan family -- Christian revivalists all -- were about to be ejected by the police, after having camped in the town square for some little time, cooking, washing, hanging their wash from the Confederate monument and generally conducting themselves in such a way as to be classed a public nuisance. Preacher Morgan and his wife pled poverty; they had to hold one more meeting, in order to buy enough gas to get out of town. It was then that Annie Morgan came out—a tousled, unwashed blond, and very lovely. She sang the first three lines of the verse of “I Wonder As I Wander.” At twenty-five cents a performance, I tried to get her to sing all the song. After eight tries, I had only three lines of verse, a garbled fragment of melodic material—and a magnificent idea.”

It has been suggested that the line from the first stanza of those lyrics that refer to the rest of us could be interpreted as not only ordinary, but sometimes downright ornery, as well! After all, the cast of characters that the biblical birth narratives provide of this tale (Lk. 1, Mt. 2) include lowly shepherds, lowing cattle, jackasses, and what were described to be “wise,” undocumented aliens; all drawn to what was a temporary lodging for the homeless (albeit with an angelic choir hovering overhead).

Need it have been that way? After all, as the carol goes:

If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing,
A star in the sky or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God’s Angels in heaven to sing,
He surely could have it, ‘cause he was the King.

As those different versions of the gospel narratives then unfold, we know what will eventually become of the itinerant peasant from Galilee. His reign will constitute the path of a wandering sage; who was left to preach his beatitudes from a hillside, or teach a moral lesson along a Samaritan’s ill-fated trail, or a prodigal’s path home again after he’d wandered astray.

Jesus’ “kingship” would be marked with a crown of thorns; while those who would forever thereafter presume to pose as “kings” – claiming greatness for themselves in their misbegotten words and deeds – would manifest just the opposite of his life, vision and message of that other kind of kin-ship.

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die,
For poor orn’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

If you find this commentary and message meaningful, you can share it with anyone for free. Just forward it to them. If you find yourself humming the tune, you can sing along to this carol with piano accompaniment here (skip any commercial pop-up!)

© 2025 by John William Bennison, Rel.D. All rights reserved. This article should only be used or reproduced with proper credit. To read more commentaries by John Bennison from the perspective of a Christian progressive here.