I can't really
choose one carol over another but right now I lean toward two because I feel I
have experienced them both. You see on Christmas Eve I walked to and from the
midnight service. Often the night was silent with soft fluffy flakes of snow
drifting down in the brisk fresh air. There was also a brightness to the sky.
It was like being enveloped in holiness and awe, Silent Night. Along with that
I heard the angels’ message as though the glory of God was right here come down
to earth. What a message: Glory__ to the new born king, Peace____ on earth,
Mercy____ mild, God and sinners___ reconciled. This is the message of “Hark the
Herald Angels Sing.” Then it is home to sleep in heavenly peace.
---Mary
Charles
Wesley had a gift; he was a hymn writer. He was said to have written no less
than 6500 hymns, one of these being, “Hark the Herald Angel Sing.” This
was his form for communicating that which mattered. His hymns were: expression
of blessings for occasions (weddings, baptisms, etc), conveyance of Bible
stories, teaching doctrine, theological treatises, addresses to world affairs, and
designed for liturgical festival.
This
carol draws one’s emotion to rise and join a joyful heavenly chorus. Joyful
all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. Wesley, always the
evangelist, ensures that carolers express where joy comes from, Light and
life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. And he writes of the
point of Christmas and the message of salvation - Born that we no more may
die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.
*Do
you think about Christmas as the preparation event for Good Friday and Easter?
*What
is the point or purpose of Christmas?
*Have
you experienced God’s light, life, or healing?
This
carol has been one that causes me to make many bulletin mistakes. How often
have I had to look up how to spell herald? In 1983, Charles Schulz’s comic strip, Peanuts,
welcomed a new character, Harold. He was named after the Christmas carol, “Hark
the Herald Angel Sing.” Charlie Brown’s sister, Sally, had one word in the
Christmas play, “Hark.” Sally was convinced that after her line, Harold Angel
would sing. The others tried to tell her that she was confused and that there
was no such person. Sally messed up her line, saying “Hockey stick.” Later her
friends are proven wrong when a boy named Harold Angel comes to her house to comfort
her from her embarrassment.
*Have
you ever been visited by an angel?
*What
people have brought healing to you after you have made a mistake, messed up, or
been embarrassed?
*What
words or actions of healing do you have to offer to others?
Emmanuel,
Give
us the courage to open our eyes and hearts to your gifts of light, life, and
healing. May we parcel these same gifts to give to our neighbours and creation.
Together with neighbours and angels; with brother sun, sister moon, and sibling
stars; we raise our joyful strains of expansive gratitude, beyond this world,
and beyond the next. Amen.
Link
to “Hark the Herald Angel Sing”- https://youtu.be/PKiezhBh3P4
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