December 26 - Hark! the Herald Angels Sing

Charles Wesley's famous hymn, "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing," is perhaps the most well-known and widely used of the hymns we will ponder this Christmas. What is less well known, however, is that the original text's first line was not "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" but "Hark how all the welkin rings!" and contained two additional verses that are no longer in use. The archaic word "welkin," meaning heavens or firmament, gave the text more cosmic implications than the current reference to the narrative from Luke's gospel. We are not just joining with Luke's angels to sing "Glory to the newborn King" but with the heavens themselves. Rather than "with the angelic host proclaim: Christ is born in Bethlehem," Wesley originally penned, "universal nature say: Christ the Lord is born today" again emphasizing the universe-altering importance of the birth of the Messiah.

As Christians, we believe that Christ changed everything, that all of history must now be interpreted through his life, death, and resurrection. We strive to live lives that only make sense through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The question for us as we enter this Christmas season is: are we ready and willing to mirror that radical change in our own lives? Do we really want the "second birth" Christ offers?

My favorite four lines of this hymn are:

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.

These lines will be challenging for me to sing this year, however. After recent events, I am left wondering if we really believe that Christ is the Prince of Peace. Christ showed us by his life and death how we are to live at peace with God and with one another. In order to live in peace we must be able to speak truth to one another in love and reject all forms of violence, as he did. In a world full of violence and no peace, Christians have our work cut out for us. Do we long for the Sun of Righteousness to rise? The prophet Malachi, whom Wesley quotes when he says that Christ is the "Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in his wings" explains that God's version of righteousness is refusing to oppress the hired workers in their wages, caring for the orphans and the widows, and not thrusting aside the immigrant. Can we honestly say that we have been Christ's righteousness for the world, bringing light and life and healing to all? Recent studies done since the Congressional report on torture was released a couple weeks ago have shown that Christians support torture in higher percentages than non-religious people. Does that sound like something the "Prince of Peace, risen with healing" would condone?

Here are the two verses Charles Wesley wrote that we no longer sing:

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.
Now display thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore,
now in mystic union join
thine to ours, and ours to thine.

Adam's likeness, Lord efface;
stamp thy image in its place;
second Adam from above,
reinstate us in thy love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
thee, the life, the inner man.
O! to all thyself impart,
formed in each believing heart.

Too often, we Christians have been complicit in forms of oppression and violence that simply cannot be harmonized with the life Jesus our Emmanuel lived. We tend to focus on the comforting aspect of "God with us" but there is another side to that equation: when God comes to dwell with us, God destroys the image of sin that we have made and stamps the likeness of God in its place. This Christmas, let our prayer be that God will come and "bruise in us the serpent's head." Let our prayer be that God will impart all of Godself to us, not just the parts with which we are comfortable.

You are encouraged to enter into a time of silent confession and meditation followed by the closing prayer.

Closing Prayer
Prince of Peace and Sun of Righteousness: Come once again to us this Christmas. Save us from our sin and reconcile us to your way of love that we might more fully join the triumph of the skies and proclaim your birth to a world in need of second birth. Amen.

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing* (Celebrating Grace #127)

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heaven adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of a virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with us to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild He lays his glory by,
Born that we no more may die,
Born to raise us from the earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

* Each day, we will link a recording of the hymn we are studying. You are encouraged to listen and/or sing the hymn to close your devotional time.

Rev. Stephen Stacks