Christmas is Jingle-icious!
I love Christmas music. I am a Christmas music junkie. I like it all: classical, the old (I mean really old) in Latin, newer music, children’s Christmas music, I even like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” I’ve obviously passed this on to my daughter, because she sings and danced to Christmas music year ’round.
Today at church we sang “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” and I think the words are worth looking at in-depth.
First off, the song was written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley who founded the Methodist Church. Written in 1739, the lyrics we know went to a very different tune. Charles was very serious, very somber, and didn’t like upbeat music. All his hymns were to slow, mournful tunes.
More than 100 years later, in 1840, composer Felix Mendelssohn was writing a cantata to commemorate the invention of the printing press by Johan Gutenberg 400 years earlier (I have to admit, I can’t imagine a cantata about a printing press, but that is off topic!). English musician William H. Cummings put two and two together, fitting the lyrics of Wesley with the music of Mendelssohn, and voila! Instant Christmas traditional carol… ok, not so instant since it took three musicians more than 100 years, but you get the idea!
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Words by Charles Wesley (1739)
Music by Felix Mendelssohn (1840)
Arranged by William H. Cummings (1857)
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 th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Hail the heav’nly 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 man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
What an uplifting song! I can’t imagine it sung to a slow, mournful tune, this is a Christmas hymn of celebration. Let’s put the words in a more modern light:
The first verse is telling us to listen! The angels are singing! The baby that has been born will reconcile us sinners with God. C’mon everybody, all nations get up and sing with the angels!
The second verse goes on: Jesus is here, our Lord. He’s here in flesh and blood, one of us. His holiness is “veiled,” covered by his humanness. He is actually PLEASED to live among us.
The third verse continues the words of praise: Hail our prince of peace, our sun. He is the light we have needed in our darkness. Yet, he puts all of his own glory to the side, to come here…
Born that man no more may die!
He gives us a second birth, a second life in God, the Father.
What a song of praise, of celebration, of victory! This beautiful hymn tells the whole story of Jesus: Birth, Purpose, Life, Death, Redemption… Victory!
Sing it loud and proud this week… it’s not just the story of Jesus birth, it’s the story of our redemption.
May 26th, 2010 at 9:29 am
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