THE ANGELS’ LOVE SONG

“Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man at war with man hears not
The love song which they bring;
O hush the noise, you men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!”

The verse quoted above comes from the carol, “It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old …” It’s a carol which speaks in every verse about the presence of angels at the birth of Jesus and what they sang, namely a love song. It’s beautiful to read as well as to sing. (if you want carols to come fresh to you, try simply reading them, pondering as you do)

Apart from anything else, I am thrilled with its acceptance of the “full on” testimony of Luke to the major manifestation of angels at the birth of Jesus. It’s inconceivable to me that this tiny baby into which God poured himself would have been born without the glory of the presence of angels. They were there to announce and they were there to protect, exercising their two wonderful ministries to humanity, which humanity the Word had now taken upon himself. No, they could not possibly be missing, and neither could they have been been anything less than a great multitude in number! Heaven itself was giving witness to the Son of God in the manger. This was a stage and a spectacle where heaven must break through and be seen.

This was no fairy story, but a massive revelation of the supernatural world to which we remain too often desperately blind and which we find difficult to grasp. The Christmas story has many challenges but the challenge to press beyond what we see in this world and to recognise a supernatural world is one of its biggest. We really must press through in our spirituality into the glorious things that are just beyond our humanity, yet for which we are bound. A revelation of the supernatural is imperative for the depth and wellbeing of our faith.

The song of the angels was a love song, which the carol makes abundantly clear. Their song enshrines an offer of peace, goodwill and joy to all mankind. The offer is given not just in words, but incarnate in a human person, a Saviour who will give to humanity the peace which it simply cannot find for itself. Here, in Jesus, is the love gift of which the song speaks. It is a song which is still being sung. He and his salvation is a gift for all, free and life-changing.

The saddest and most poignant part of the carol is the verse I quoted at the beginning. It tells us that “man at war with man hears not the love song ….”. E.H. Shears, the author, wrote that verse about a century and a half ago, and the sentiment remains true today. One can feel his aching heart beat as he pens the words, “O hush the noise you men of strife and hear the angels song”; a sad heart beat, but one we need to take up at Christmas in prayer.

Yet in the midst of our dismay at so much human futility, I pray that the reality of the peace and joy and the wonderful supernatural power of our God in Jesus may bring you that same sense of deep wonder which the angels’ song brought all those years ago. That’s what Christmas should bring us – a deep sense of spiritual wonder.


Bob



To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue.


To print this column: click on the date of this column in the archive list on the right of this page. This will give you this column on its own. Then print.