Hymns for the Nativity: IV

Continuing in my reflections upon Charles Wesley's 'Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord'...Hymn IV:

1. GLORY be to GOD on high,
And Peace on Earth descend;
GOD comes down: He bows the Sky:
He shews himself our Friend!
GOD th' Invisible appears,
GOD the Blest, the Great I AM
Sojourns in this Vale of Tears,
And JESUS is his Name.

2. Him the Angels all ador'd
Their Maker and their King:
Tidings of their Humbled LORD
They now to Mortals bring:
Emptied of his Majesty,
Of His dazling Glories shorn,
Being's Source begins to Be,
And GOD himself is BORN!

3. See th' Eternal Son of GOD
A Mortal Son of Man,
Dwelling in an Earthy Clod
Whom Heaven cannot contain!
Stand amaz'd ye Heavens at This!
Humbled to the Dust He is,
And in a Manger lies!

4. We the Sons of Men rejoice,
The Prince of Peace proclaim,
With Heaven's Host lift up our Voice,
And shout Immanuel's Name;
Knees and Hearts to Him we bow;
Of our Flesh, and of our Bone
JESUS is our Brother now,
And GOD is All our own!

I haven't mentioned it in this thread on the Nativity Hymns, but I love Charles' use of the paradox and mystery of the Incarnation in these hymns. It is perhaps seen more vividly in this collection than anywhere else in the writings of Charles and John Wesley. Paradox is seen most potently in this hymn in the phrases: "GOD th' Invisible appears," "Being's Source begins to Be, and GOD himself is BORN!" and "Dwelling in an Earthy Clod Whom Heaven cannot contain!...See the LORD of Earth and Skies Humbled to the Dust..."

The first time I was exposed to this hymn was in 2003, when I took a class taught by Lester Ruth on Sacramental Theology. He admitted his favor of this hymn over the others in the collection and drew our attention especially to the middle of the first stanza: "God comes down; he bows the Sky: He shews himself our Friend!" The end of the stanza elaborates on this identity when Jesus is proclaimed to sojourn "in this Vale of Tears." What is the Incarnation if it is not God empathizing with us? The 2nd verse of "What a Friend we have in Jesus" assists here: "Can we find a Friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer." Abraham was called a Friend of God (James 2.23). Moses was said to have spoken face to face with God "as a man speaks to his Friend" (Exodus 33.11). Proverbs remarkably claims, "Faithful are the wounds of a Friend" (27.6). And of course we have these words of Jesus spoken on the night he was betrayed: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (John 15.13-15). Laying down his life for friends...I'm trying to reconcile that with Paul's words in Romans 5 which declares that God demonstrates his love for us in that "while we were still sinners (enemies?), Christ died for us." So God, in Christ, befriends the enemy? Is that how to bring these together? It seems so. His befriending began in Bethlehem. And as his friends, he lets us in on the secret plan and mission of God of rescuing the world. He "Sojourns in this Vale of Tears" for us and with us.

Charles begins the hymn with the declaration that God shows himself our Friend. He ends it with the affirmation that "Jesus is our Brother"; another beautiful relational truth. Returning to Proverbs (17.17) brings these titles of Friend and Brother together: "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." But more importantly, in the Incarnation Jesus shows himself our Brother in that he reconciles us to God and one another, bringing us into the family life of the Triune God! In the midst of a dark, evil, and hurting world, we can take comfort and hope in knowing that God has entered this 'Vale of Tears' and in Jesus has revealed himself to be our Friend and Brother!