Hymns4Him

The hearts of Christians beat with passion for the Lord Jesus, and for the Great Commission.  In a sense, that passage at the end of Matthew 28 could be called Jesus’ “last will and testament.”  But that wouldn’t be entirely accurate, since He still lives among us and dwells within us. His resurrected, glorified body was received into heaven at His ascension, but He promised that His spirit would be with us to the end of the age.  And in issuing this Great Commission, He assured us that we would not be carrying out that commission in our own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One of the marks of a healthy church is that there be a widespread missions mentality.  This means more than simply assigning a portion of the church budget to support for missionaries and mission agencies.  That can and does happen, but then members of the church have little knowledge of it, and receive no encouragement to become emotionally and prayerfully engaged in missions.  In contrast, there are churches that promote missions by having a separate missions budget to which people are regularly invited to contribute, by praying for missionaries by name in morning worship, by including brief missions reports in Sunday announcements and monthly newsletters, by holding a missions conference (annually) with guest missionaries speaking to share their ministry reports and visiting at meals and in members’ homes, and by enlisting members to go on mission trips to spend a week or two with missionaries in the field to experience that foreign culture and see first-hand what church planting is all about.

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Pastor Joe wasn’t sure what to do about the Christmas Eve service.  It was always a highlight for the musicians and congregation of his church in their little mountain village.  But the electricity had gone out, which meant that not only was there no heat and no lights, but also no power for the organ.  They didn’t have a piano, and no one played the accordion. So he consulted with Frank, their organist and choir director.  Pastor Joe could play a few things on his guitar, but he only knew three chords.  But with Frank’s help they came up with something at the last minute that they could use for the service.  It was simple enough for the singers to learn quickly, and which the congregation could pick up easily.  Joe wrote the words and Frank wrote a melody that would work with the three guitar chords.  And with candles, people could see well enough to sing along.  It actually went quite well.  When the repairman came later to fix things, they played what they had written to show him how they had managed.  He was so impressed by the song and by their ingenuity in coping with the disaster, he copied it down and shared it with others.  Soon it was being sung in churches all over every Christmas.

Well, that’s not exactly how “Silent Night” came to be written and sung 202 years ago, but that’s how it would have been told if a similar thing had happened this year (not to mention how the COVID-19 pandemic would have altered the scenario!).  Here’s the actual story.  It was Christmas Eve, 1818 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Oberndorf, a Bavarian village in Austria.  The young priest, Father Joseph Mohr (1792-1848), had come to the church the year before.  He had written the poem “Stille Nacht” two years earlier in Salzburg where he worked as an assistant priest in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.  The organ at St. Nicholas church was not functioning and could not be repaired until Karl Mauracher, the organ builder who serviced the instrument, could get there weeks later.

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Once again we note that Luke is the only Gospel writer who includes what we’ve come to refer to as “the four nativity songs” or “canticles:” those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.” How wonderful to note that the same Jesus who is hailed in song in heaven right now (as we read in Revelation 5:12: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and power and honor and glory and blessing”) was hailed in song as His coming into the world in His incarnation.

This fourth of Luke’s “Nativity Hymns” is known by the opening words in Latin, “Nunc Dimittis,” which means “now depart.”  That was the essence of the prayer offered by Simeon when he was privileged to see the infant Messiah.  Though the Bible does not say that he sang this prayer, it is entirely possible to describe it as a song since, like Zechariah’s “Benedictus” and Mary’s “Magnificat,” all three bear the unmistakable characteristics of a Hebrew psalm with the poetic style of the lyrics.

There are many places in Scripture where we would like to have been given more details.  What did Moses look like when he came down from Mr. Sinai? How big was the stone in David’s sling?  What did the angel’s voice sound like in Isaiah’s ears?  Was Daniel able to “pet” the lions in the den?  How many angels appeared in the sky to the shepherds of Bethlehem?  What did it look like to see the loaves and fishes multiplying as they were distributed?  Such curiosity can lead (and has led) some to miss the important central truth in each incident.  If we needed to know these things, God would have revealed them to us.

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Luke’s Gospel narrative is unique in many ways, and among them is the attention he gave to the presence and role of angels in his nativity account.  It is from the mouth of angels that we have the third of Luke’s nativity hymns, their “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” (glory in the highest to God).  This Latin phrase has been featured in many choral settings, like Antonio Vivaldi’s 1715 twelve-movement “Gloria,” often performed by choirs at Christmas time. Luke’s four nativity carols are those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.” 

There are quite a few hymns about angels in the Christmas sections of our hymnals.  Among them are “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Angels from the Realms of Glory,” “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night,” “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “The First Noel,” and Martin Luther’s hymn, “From Heaven High (or Above) to Earth I Come,” which puts the whole nativity story into lyrics as spoken by the angel.

 Another of those hymns in which we sing about the angels is “It Came upon the Midnight Clear.” It is the earliest American Christmas carol or hymn that is included in the repertoire of most hymnals and congregations throughout North America. Written on a snowy December Day by Edmund Sears (1810-1876), a Harvard graduate and Unitarian minister, it was first printed in 1849.  He wrote this text while serving as a pastor in Wayland, Massachusetts.

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The Gospel of Luke is the one that gives us the most information about the birth of Jesus.  It is also the only one which includes what we’ve come to refer to as “the four nativity songs” or “canticles:” those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.”  We call them songs, even though the Bible simply says these words were spoken.  But their lyrical, poetic style lends validity to our traditional description of them as songs.  If that is so, then they were probably “sung” in a style similar to chant, as were also the Psalms.

In each of these four, we can’t help but wonder how Luke knew about them: the circumstances of their initial utterance, and the text of what was said/sung.  He does tell us in the introduction in the opening verses that he had examined what others had written as well as interviewing witnesses.  That leads to the very likely conclusion that all four of these accounts came from Luke’s having talked with Mary, listening to and recording her memories. Of course, all this occurred under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, ensuring that we have the record as God’s own revelation.  According to some ancient traditions, Mary spent the latter years of her life in Ephesus under the loving care of the Apostle John, as directed by Jesus in one of His “Seven Last Words from the Cross” (John 19:26-27). Perhaps Luke interviewed her there at some point.

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There are a number of things about Luke that make him stand out as very special among the four Gospel writers.  He is traditionally believed to be the only Gentile author of a New Testament book.  He was a partner with Paul on the latter missionary journeys, as indicated in Acts 16:10, where the narrative shifts to the first-person plural “we,” signifying Luke’s presence with Paul at that point.  More than any other, Luke stands out as a historian in the way he was so precise in connecting the narrative to contemporary events and in providing the precise, accurate titles for government officials.  That carefulness is also evident in the fact that he tells us in the opening paragraph that he has researched these matters to be able to record them accurately, which explains how he knew what Mary said, having almost certainly interviewed her.  We talk about Luke as “the beloved physician,” which is interesting to see that among the reports of the woman healed from her 12-year hemorrhage, he is the one who doesn’t mention that she had spent all she had on doctors who didn’t help, but only made her worse, perhaps in deference to his fellow physicians!

For the purpose of this study, however, the additional factor in Luke’s life that makes him quite special is that he is the only one who includes what we’ve come to refer to as “the four nativity songs” or “canticles:” those of Mary (1:46-55), Zechariah (1:68-79), the angels (2:14), and Simeon (2:29-32).  These have each come to be known by the opening Latin words in the 5^th century Vulgate: Mary’s “Magnificat,” Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” the angels’ “Gloria,” and Simeon’s “Nunc Dimittis.”  Of course, the Bible doesn’t actually call these “songs.”  In fact, it describes the words as having been spoken.  But each is so “poetic” and lyrical, that to describe them as songs does not seem at all out of character.

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America’s 2024 national election involved candidates and parties at many levels of government: President and Vice President, Senators, Representatives, state and local officials, and numerous amendments (included abortion and marijuana).  The political season preceding it was filled with sometimes extremely harsh rhetoric, interruptions from television commercials, and a seemingly never-ending delivery of campaign flyers in our mailboxes.

The result of the election, especially at the presidential level, caused relief and euphoria for some and inconsolable sorrow and anger for others.  Sadly, some candidates who claimed to be Christians fell far short of demonstrating the virtues associated with the fruit of the Spirit.  Having witnessed that, one of the reactions that should become even more present now is not only prayer for the nation, but also prayer for those candidates whose rhetoric and attitude showed a need for divinely-given repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.

As Christians voted, most had deeply held convictions that shaped their selections at the ballot box.  And these varied, with some choosing on candidate and party, and others, even family members, divided as the selected the opposite.  So how should Christians on both sides be reacting now?  Certainly there should be no hostility between those with whom there was disagreement.  At this (and every) point, the biblical goal should be not unity (we still hold opposing convictions), but harmony (respecting those with whom we disagreed).

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Some might consider Thanksgiving “the American family holiday.” It might even surpass Christmas as the occasion for which family members gather together in greatest numbers.  Each year, we hear on the news that more people travel over Thanksgiving weekend than at any time during the year. And that travel often involves family members of multiple generations joining together at the home of their member for a traditional meal centering around roast turkey.  Part of the tradition frequently includes starting the day with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on television, and then after the sumptuous early afternoon feast, watching an afternoon football game while eating cold turkey sandwiches, and then getting started on Christmas decorations in the house and Christmas shopping in the stores on “Black Friday.”  And of course, throughout the day, everyone is taking turns helping out in the kitchen!   Right?

But as the real meaning of Christmas is too often lost amid the commercialism and consumerism of our increasingly secular culture, so too is the real meaning of Thanksgiving too often lost amid the increasingly self-centered hedonistic and entertainment-oriented atmosphere of modern America.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the revival we all pray for could begin by Christians leading the way, putting the Lord back at the center of these two holiday events, both of which had their origins in celebrating what God has done for us?  After all, the word thanksgiving has little meaning unless there is some conscious understanding of what it is for which we are thankful, and to whom our thankfulness is directed.

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