Advent 2 December 8th.
Hark: Sit up, Take notice. Listen!
During this Advent, we’ll be reflecting on the words of some of our Advent and Christmass hymns. We sing them lustily and so frequently that we can easily forget that the words have something to teach us. The best hymns make us think a little.. or a lot.
Today I want to unpack some of the words of that classic carol ‘Hark the herald angels sing’.
The very first word tells us what we should be doing this Advent.
Hark.
This little word means Sit up, Take notice. Listen!
And as angels are God’s messengers, this hymn is in fact a type of angel. It is bringing us good news.
The hymn or perhaps the author, has something to teach us. There is some important knowledge to impart. Something that is really newsworthy, in fact something that has not been off the news cycle for the last 2000 years. It is The good news of the birth of our saviour.
Hark. Sit up, take notice. Listen!
The hymn will teach us and encourage us to become apeople of reconciliation. Reconciliation with each other and reconciliation with God. So we get …
“Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.”
One of our greatest needs for 2025 and beyond is reconciliation. As I write, wars rage across this planet; tribe against tribe and nation against nation. But more subtle than that, I am very much aware of those who espouse an ‘Us versus them’ policy. ‘Those over there’ are not ‘us’ and therefore they are somehow less than us. They are not worthy or entitled to the privileges that we take for granted; they are not welcome. In God’s eyes however, all are equal. The prodigal son, the taxi collector and the prostitute get into the kingdom of heaven to feast and dance ahead of the clergy Fr. David!
This is how another great hymn writer put it.
Lord in your good creation
All people, every nation
Bear a dignity and grace
Images of you
So help us treat all others
As sisters and as brothers
Valuing all you have made
As good and as true.
The peace of which these words speak goes far deeper than simply a cessation of conflict between warring factions. It reveals the peace in which you and I can enjoy our Creator. This peace is enduring, everlasting even, and life-changing.
It is when we see that God is in the messiness of retribution and retaliation, when we understand that He always wants to be with us in our muck, then we can be at peace with Him, within ourselves and with each other.
Next, The Carol speaks to us about Revelation. Hark. Sit up, take notice. Listen! God has revealed himself to us.
“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see!
Hail the incarnate deity!
The baby born in the ick of the cave gives us a glimpse of the Divine. When we reflect on the reality of that first nativity scene, we realise that the God on the mouldy straw is not what we would expect or hope for. God in a cold, dark place. Snuffling smelly animals, a virgin giving birth and vagabond shepherds who haven’t quite managed to shower for a couple of days. Maybe a little merry from a night warmer or two. The weeing, defecating brat in the manger is actually ….God. God in the flesh, the incarnate deity.
God came down to us in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He fully shared our humanity and knows all about the kinds of trials and tribulations we experience today. How amazing that He entered our world of pain in order to make an entirely different quality of life available to those who receive Him.
Hark. Sit up, take notice. Listen!
The Carol tells us about Righteousness and Resurrection
“Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
‘Sun of Righteousness’ is a title given to the Messiah (Christ) by the prophet Malachi. Four hundred or so years before the birth of Christ, Malachi predicted that God’s sent One would: “arise with healing in His wings” (Malachi 4:2). Wesley, the author of the hymn, applies this to Christ’s resurrection (“Risen with healing in His wings”).
So we get
Mild he (God) lays his glory by
Born that we no more may die
Born to raise us from the earth (or ‘our grave’ if you like)
Born to give us (a) second birth.
So we have our first birth in the labour ward and our second birth is when we enter heaven.
This Christmas, enjoy singing the carol. In fact, enjoy singing every carol. But when you are singing the words try to remember Revelation, Righteousness, Resurrection & Reconciliation.
Isaiah had it right.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.