Hymns for the Nativity: XVIII

Hymn XVIII (the last hymn of the collection) of Charles Wesley's 'Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord':

1. All Glory to GOD in the Sky,
And Peace upon Earth be restor'd!
O JESUS, exalted on high,
Appear our omnipotent Lord:
Who meanly in Bethlehem born,
Didst stoop to redeem a lost Race,
Once more to thy Creature return,
And reign in thy Kingdom of Grace.

2. When Thou in our Flesh didst appear,
All Nature acknowledg'd thy Birth;
Arose the acceptable Year,
And Heaven was open'd on Earth:
Receiving its Lord from above,
The World was united to bless
The Giver of Concord and Love,
The Prince and Author of Peace.

3. O wouldst Thou again be made known,
Again in thy Spirit descend,
And set up in each of thine own,
A Kingdom that never shall end!
Thou only art able to bless,
And make the glad Nations obey,
And bid the dire Enmity cease,
And bow the whole World to thy Sway.

4. Come then to thy Servants again,
Who long thy Appearing to know,
Thy quiet and peaceable Reign
In Mercy establish below:
All Sorrow before Thee shall fly,
And Anger and Hatred be o'er,
And Envy and Malice shall die,
And Discord afflict us no more.

5. No horrid Alarm of War
Shall break our Eternal Repose;
No Sound of the Trumpet is there,
Where JESUS's Spirit o'erflows:
Appeas'd by the Charms of thy Grace
We all shall in Amity join,
And kindly each other embrace,
And love with a Passion like Thine.

Yet another beautiful hymn on Advent, this one is appropriately at the end because it speaks of the 4th candle of the Advent wreath: Peace. This is a cry for peace; the peace of Christ's kingdom to come!

I often hear (though not as frequently recently as I had in years past) this phrase: "be (or feel) at peace with..." It tends to be associated with a decision-making process and conveys some sort of ease that is felt with making a certain choice. Now I'm not going to say that this idea is completey ridiculous because I do think that the Spirit often instills with us a sense of rightness and assurance that we're heading in the right direction, but there's a couple of things about this notion. First, to seek after the feeling is misguided. We should be seeking the truth and the right path, which, ironically is probably not going to be marked by ease. Is it possible to feel at peace about taking the path of most resistance? Discipleship ain't easy. The last several theses of Luther's 95 Theses partly address this false sense of peace: "92. Away, then, with those prophets who say to Christ's people, 'Peace, peace,' where there is no peace. 93. Hail, hail to all those prophets who say to Christ's people, 'The cross, the cross," where there is no cross. 94. Christians should be exhorted to be zealous to follow Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hells. 95. And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through a false assurance of peace." Second, and related to this, I hope that when people says this phrase that this really isn't all they think there is to "peace," because it really has very little (if anything) to do with concepts of peace conveyed in the Bible. Okay, I'm stepping off my soap box.

The Biblical concept of peace is more about reconciliation, restoration, and wholeness, more than just about an absence of conflict, though this is also part of the picture. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." My name, Jeffrey, means 'peace.' I like that. My mission in life is to help bring peace/reconciliation between alienated parties: God and human; human and human; human and creation. "God was in Christ reconciling the Cosmos to Himself." In this hymn, that is what Charles was crying for and what we are crying for. That is the cry of Advent...that Christ will fully bring his Kingdom of Eternal Peace. However, this is not an escapist cry. We are called to participate in preparing the way for this kingdom to arrive and renew the face of the earth. We are called to be peacemakers, reconcilers. I think that if you re-read the hymn, you'll discover the centrality of reconciliation as the key component of Christ's reign of peace. That reign has been inaugurated in the Birth of Christ, and will be fulfilled his forthcoming appearance. We are in dark days, let us light up the darkness and prepare the way for the kingdom whose Light will no longer need the sun. "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!"