Psalm 8

To the chief musician upon Gittith,

A Psalm of David.

1 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings

hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,

that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,

the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,

and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;

thou hast put all things under his feet;

7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,

and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

JW: David extols the majesty, power, and providence of God, ver. 1, 2; and his loving-kindness to mankind, ver. 3-5; in giving him dominion over this lower world, ver. 6-9.

[On verse 1:] 'In' - Not only in Israel, but among all nations. Which shews that this Psalm speaks of the Messiah, and the times of the New Testament. 'Heavens' - where thy throne of glory is established, where the blessed angels celebrate thy praises, where Christ sitteth at thy right hand in glorious majesty, from whence he poureth down excellent gifts upon babes.

[On verse 2:] 'Babes' - weak and foolish, and contemptible persons, who are frequently called babes or children. Such are very unfit to grapple with an enemy; and therefore when such persons conquer the most powerful and malicious enemies, it must needs confound them, and advance the glory of God: as indeed it did, when such mean [i.e., average, common] persons as the apostles, and disciples of Christ, maintained and propagated the gospel, in spite of all the wit, power, and rage of their enemies. 'Ordained' - perfectly or firmly settled strength; that is, the praise of his strength or power, Matt. 21.16, it is rendered praise. 'Still' - silence and confound them. 'Avenger' - the devil, and all who are his vassals and espouse his quarrel.

[On verse 4:] 'What is man' - how mean and inconsiderable a thing is man, if compared with thy glorious majesty. 'Man' - Heb. infirm, or miserable man. By which it is apparent that he speaks of man, not according to the state of his creation, but as fallen into a state of sin and misery, and mortality. 'Mindful' - carest for him, and conferest such high favours upon him. 'The son' - Heb. the son of Adam, that great apostate from God, the sinful son of a sinful father, his son by likeness of disposition and manners, no less than by procreation. All of which tends to magnify the following mercy. 'Visitest' - not in anger, as that word is sometimes used, but with thy grace and mercy.

[On verse 5:] 'For' - Thou hast in Christ mercifully restored man to his primitive estate, wherein he was but one remove below the angels; from which he was fallen by sin. 'Crowned' - man, fallen and lost man: who is actually restored to glory and dominion in Christ his head and representative, who received this crown and dominion for man's good, and in his stead; which he will in due time communicate to his members. And so the two expositions of this place concerning mankind and concerning Christ, may be reconciled. For he speaks of that honourable estate conferred first upon Christ, and then by his hands upon mankind. But the words more literally rendered are, 'Thou hast made him a little lower than God.' And hence some have inferred, that man in his original estate was the highest of all creatures.

Upon reading Wesley's comments on verse 4, I was a little taken aback that he didn't immediately take 'son of man' to refer to Jesus even though the author of Hebrews seems to do so (see Heb. 2.5-11). But I was glad he brought Christ into the center of this Psalm in his reflections on verse 5. In the wake of the Incarnation, it is appropriate for us to see this passage as referring both to the first creation and the honor that was bestowed to humanity there, as well as to the new creation, inaugurated in the kingdom of Jesus, where our estate is being restored. In light of that, then, Wesley's reference to sin, the fall, and the misery that has befallen the world since our first parents fell, may not be that far off.

On a more personal level, who of us has not stared up into the sky at night noticing how impossible it is to count the stars in the heavens and then pondered, "Really, God? You really think about me/us? Look at how tiny I am!" And the universe is a lot bigger today than it was when David wrote this psalm. We sure do put a lot of value in size, don't we? And yet, even after all the discoveries of science that tell us just how small the earth is, we can still ponder this question that David asks. But isn't it classic Bible to deflate the big and proud and raise up the humble? And more than just being mindful of who we are and our situation, God considers us to such a degree that he decides to 'visit'. And though we are vile, God visits not in anger, as Wesley aptly notes, but in 'grace and mercy' to forgive and restore.

We have this reference to a 'crown,' which undoubtedly evokes the imagery of a kingdom. What does God crown here? Something humble and seemingly small. That's what I like about stories like the Chronicles of Narnia. You see Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy crowned kings and queens, yet they are mere children. God crowned Adam and Eve in the garden as the creatures who will bear the Divine image. It is only to humans that God has bestowed this grace. (Maybe that's why it's appropriate to say 'a little lower than God'.) Many early Church Fathers, including Irenaeus, considered that Adam and Eve were created as infants or youths. This idea helps us to see that though they were created "very good," yet this goodness was not without room for growth in obedience. Christ was born a King. God bestows glory and honor to these Representatives. God bestows glory and honor to us and wants us to steward this kingdom with righteousness.

Hymns for the Nativity: XVI

Hymn XVI of Charles Wesley's 'Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord' (prepare yourself, not only is it hymn 16, it also has 16 stanzas; well really it has 15 stanzas because he skipped #8):

1. O Mercy Divine

How couldst Thou incline

My GOD to become such an Infant as mine!

2. What a Wonder of Grace!

The Ancient of Days

Is found in the Likeness of Adam's frail Race.

3. He comes from on high,

Who fashion'd the Sky,

And meekly vouchsafes in a Manger to lie.

4. Our GOD ever blest

With Oxen doth rest,

Is nursed by his Creature and hangs at the Breast.

5. So Heavenly-mild

His Innocence smil'd,

No wonder the Mother should worship the Child.

6. The Angels she knew

Had worshipp'd him too,

And still they confess Adoration his Due.

7. On JESUS's Face,

With eager Amaze,

And Pleasure extatic the Cherubim gaze.

(8. He skipped a verse so nothing here.)

9. Their newly-born King,

Transported they sing,

And Heav'n and Earth with the Triumph doth ring.

10. The Shepherds behold

Him promis'd of old,

By Angels attended, by Prophets foretold.

11. The wise Men adore,

And bring him their Store,

The Rich are permitted to follow the Poor.

12. To the Inn they repair,

To see the young Heir:

The Inn is a Palace; for JESUS is there!

13. Who now would be great,

And not rather wait

On JESUS their Lord in his humble Estate?

14. Like him would I be,

My Master I see

In a Stable; a Stable shall satisfy me.

15. With Him I reside:

The Manger shall hide

Mine Honour; the Manger shall bury my Pride.

16. And here will I lie,

Till rais'd up on high

With Him on the Cross I recover the Sky.

In this hymn, Charles appears to engage the characters of the Nativity stories more than anywhere else in the collection. The progression moves from the standpoint of Mary (1-6a), to the angels (6-9), to the shepherds (10), to the wise men (11-12), and ultimately to us and how we are to respond (13-16).

I take it that Charles this starts off from Mary's standpoint by his use of "mine" at the end of stanza 1. Though it certainly doesn't contain the beauty of the Magnificat, Mary's response to the news the angel brought to her is the lens through which this stanza (& perhaps the whole hymn since the rich & the poor as well as the notion of humility are key themes in both the Magnificat and this hymn) is best read. The concept of 'frailty' in stanza 2 communicates, as we have examine before, the fragility & brokenness of our fallen race. In order to bring reparation, Christ has to start at the beginning. Stanza 4 is yet another example of the paradox of the Nativity: it's difficult for me to imagine what it would be like to nurture the Source of my existence. Did Mary ponder this?

This hymn may very well be, as alluded to above, the most vivid picture in this collection of the importance of the 'poor' and of the necessity of our 'humble' response to the Nativity. How about the notion of stanza 11, "The Rich are permitted to follow the Poor." The immediate context points to the ordering of the story, that the first visitors to the Christ Child are of the poorest (shepherds) while the wise men (assumed to be rich given the monetary value of the gifts they brought) came afterward. Read these words from the Magnificat: "He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away." But these 'rich' wise men forsake their richness in giving their gifts away. In that sense the rich are 'permitted' to follow the poor. Because really until we "give all we can," to borrow a phrase from John Wesley, we will not be true followers of Him who became poor for our sake.

This naturally leads to the closing of the hymn, which marks humility and contentment as the path to "the Sky" because that is the path that Christ took his whole life! We should be content with a stable. If we're that easily satisfied then we'll find that our pride and honor-seeking will be 'buried' in the manger. That's a beautiful image! The manger, in this hymn, serves as a type of altar, where our pride is brought to death. I wrote a couple of days ago about great 'R' words associated with the Incarnation and salvation. I missed one: 'recovery,' which I realized when reading the final stanza in this hymn. What a great one it is, too. The path to 'recover the Sky'...the path to glorification goes through the Cross of Christ. And our participation in that involves our willingness to lie with Christ in the manger. "Blessed are the poor (in spirit and otherwise) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Hymns for the Nativity: IX

Hymn IX of Charles Wesley's 'Hymn for the Nativity of Our Lord':

1. Father, our Hearts we lift

Up to thy Gracious Throne,

And bless Thee for the precious Gift

Of thine Incarnate Son;

The Gift unspeakable

We thankfully receive,

And to the World thy Goodness tell,

And to thy Glory live.

2. JESUS, the holy Child,

Doth by his Birth declare,

That GOD and Man are reconcil'd,

And One in Him we are.

Salvation thro' his Name

To all Mankind is given,

And loud his Infant-Cries proclaim

A Peace 'twixt Earth and Heaven.

3. A Peace on Earth He brings,

Which never more shall end:

The Lord of Hosts, the King of Kings,

Declares Himself our Friend,

Assumes our Flesh and Blood,

That we his Sp'rit may gain,

The everlasting Son of GOD,

The mortal Son of Man.

4. His Kingdom from above

He doth to us impart,

And pure Benevolence and Love

O'erflow the faithful Heart:

Chang'd in a Moment we

The sweet Attraction find,

With open Arms of Charity

Embracing all Mankind.

5. O might they all receive

The new-born Prince of Peace,

And meekly in his Spirit live,

And in his Love increase!

Till He convey us home,

Cry every Soul aloud,

Come, Thou Desire of Nations come,

And take us all to GOD!

For some reason words associated with speech in stanzas 1-3 are standing out to me: "unspeakable," "tell," "declare(s)" (2x), "loud...Cries proclaim." Paradox, once again, fills the first part of the hymn. How is it that the "Incarnate Son" (St. John calls him the "Word") is an "unspeakable" gift? Our speech is inadequate to define or describe this Jesus, yet we are still called to proclaim him to the nations. Furthermore, how is it that in becoming an infant Jesus "declares" something? These "Infant-Cries" declare reconciliation and proclaim peace. That is the nature of what our speech should entail: that God & human are reconciled in Christ's birth...and that peace now exists between Earth & Heaven. Aren't these two ways of saying the same thing? Parallelism?

"Peace" is what connects stanzas 2 & 3. And Jesus "declares" himself our Friend. Is there anything that could demonstrate or declare peace more acutely than to know that Jesus is our friend, that he has "assumed our flesh and blood"? This declaration of friendship is another way of expressing the idea of reconciliation that has so richly inhabited the hymns of this collection.

Then there's a shift where the emphasis moves from "speech" to "embrace." The shift happens after the declaration of friendship. There is the notion of "giving" in that he "imparts" his kingdom into our hearts with "benevolence and love." And this so fills our hearts that we join the Divine embrace by "embracing all mankind." If, as we have seen in other hymns and as is clearly manifest in Wesleyan theology that we have a "Universal Saviour," then shouldn't that affect our mission, our theology, our worship? We want all to join this divine "embrace," as it were, by "receiving" the Prince of Peace.

Hymns for the Nativity: VI

Hymn VI of Charles Wesley's 'Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord':

1. Join all ye joyful Nations

Th' acclaiming Hosts of Heaven!

This happy Morn

A Child is born,

To us a Son is given;

The Messenger and Token

Of GOD's Eternal Favour,

GOD hath sent down

To us his Son,

An Universal Saviour!

2. The wonderful Messias,

The Joy of every Nation,

JESUS his Name,

With GOD the same,

The Lord of all creation.

The Counsellor of Sinners,

Almighty to deliver,

The Prince of Peace,

Whose Love's Increase

Shall reign in Man for ever.

3. Go see the King of Glory,

Discern the Heavenly Stranger,

So poor and mean,

His Court an Inn,

His Cradle is a Manger;

Who from his Father's Bosom

But now for Us descended,

Who built the Skies,

On Earth he lies,

With only Beasts attended.

4. Whom all the Angels worship,

Lies hid in Human Nature;

Incarnate see

The Deity,

The Infinite Creator!

See the Stupendous Blessing

Which GOD to us hath given!

A Child of Man,

In Length of Span,

Who fills both Earth and Heaven.

5. Gaze on that Helpless Object

Of endless Adoration!

Those Infant-Hands

Shall burst our Bands,

And work out our Salvation;

Strangle the crooked Serpent,

Destroy his Works for ever,

And open set

The Heavenly Gate

To ever True Believer.

6. Till then, thou holy JESUS,

We humbly bow before Thee,

Our Treasures bring

To serve our King,

And joyfully adore Thee;

To Thee we gladly render

Whate'er thy Grace hath given,

Till thou appear

In Glory here,

And take us up to Heaven.

Again, so much to work with here and dwell upon in mystery and awe for Christ who became so small! From stanza 1, I'm struck with the fact that Christ is both "Messenger" and "Token" of our favor with God. The angels had sung that blessed night, "Peace on earth for those on whom His favor rests." And memorably, in Jesus' inaugural sermon/message (Luke 4), Jesus says that the Isaiah passage, which includes "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," is being fulfilled in him. So he's certainly the messenger of God's favor, but he's also the "token" of God's favor in that his redeeming death restored us to the favor of God. This is synonymous with John Wesley's assessment that the plain meaning of justification is 'pardon.' Jesus heard on more than one occasion, "This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased." Through his Incarnation, death, and resurrection, he has made it possible that we may hear the same!

Stanza 3 strikes me with paradox, once again, in the arrival of a King among the most humble of audiences. "His Court an Inn, His Cradle is a Manger." I almost wanted Charles to have said, "His Throne is a Manger" as a way of completing the analogy of a king's livelihood and place.

But it's stanza 5 that makes me want to shout more than anything in this! In it, Charles picks up on the notion from stanza 2 ("Almighty to deliver") when he uses language of victory, liberation, and destruction of evil to communicate the significance and meaning of Salvation. Several days ago, I wrote a post on John Wesley's sermon "The End of Christ's Coming" and discussed how the sermon was quite fitting to be read during Advent. This stanza of this hymn demonstrates that in poetic form: "Those Infant-Hands Shall burst our Bands, And work out our Salvation; Strangle the crooked Serpent, Destroy his Works for ever..." In Christ, our Victor, we have been given dominion over the power of sin and are promised that death, sin's consequence, is not final! In the general resurrection, Christ will have destroyed the final work of the devil. That's what makes this very fitting for Advent!

What else stands out to you?

Hymns for the Nativity: V

Hymn V of Charles Wesley's 'Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord':

1. Let Earth and Heaven combine,

Angels and Men agree

To praise in Songs divine

Th' Incarnate Deity,

Our GOD contracted to a Span,

Incomprehensibly made Man.

2. He laid his Glory by,

He wrap'd Him in our Clay,

Unmark'd by Human Eye

The latent Godhead lay;

Infant of Days He here became

And bore the lov'd IMMANUEL'S Name.

3. See in that Infant's Face

The Depths of Deity,

And labour while ye gaze

To sound the Mystery:

In vain: ye Angels gaze no more,

But fall, and silently adore.

4. Unsearchable the Love

That hath the Saviour brought,

The Grace is far above

Or Men or Angels Though;

Suffice for Us, that GOD, we know,

Our GOD is manifest below.

5. He deigns in Flesh t' appear,

Widest Extremes to join,

To bring our Vileness near,

And make us All divine;

And we the Life of GOD shall know,

For GOD is manifest below.

6. Made perfect first in Love,

And sanctified by Grace,

We shall from Earth remove,

And see his glorious Face;

His Love shall then be fully shew'd,

And Man shall all be lost in GOD.

Two things primarily strike me in this hymn: 1. the continued appeal to paradox and mystery; and 2. the connection between the first and second comings of Jesus.

Before I get to these, though, I love the language of the first two lines: "Let Heaven and Earth combine, Angels and Men agree." In this age filled with discord and disagreement, sounding a chorus of agreement and harmony sure would go a long way in proclaiming the good news of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Isn't that what is meant by "Heaven and Earth combine"? Both John's and Jesus' preaching ministry contain the same content: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." And even stronger, they "combine" in the God-man Jesus.

We return to the mystery of the Incarnation and this is potently seen in stanza 2: "He wrap'd Him in our Clay, Unmark'd by Human Eye The latent Godhead lay." He arrived "under the radar," as it were. "He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." Jesus is "wrap'd in our clay"...that also agrees with the assessment of the judgment in Matthew 25: "Whatever you have done to the least of these, that you have also done to me."

This brings me to the 2nd point: the connection between the first and second comings of Jesus. And in reality this brings us back to the point made on the combination of Heaven and Earth in stanza 1. This hymn really has striking resonance with the Orthodox emphasis of theosis, especially seen in stanza 5: "To bring our vileness near, and make us all divine." It echoes, in a sense, the affirmation of the early Fathers like St. Irenaeus and St. Athanasius who said, "God became man so that man might become God." Now I won't go on here and say that the Wesleys' concept of sanctification/perfection is the same as theosis. While this was once a popular opinion, it's been pretty well debunked now. However, there may be a closer affinity between the Wesleyan concept of glorification and that of theosis. 'Sanctification' gets so much attention in Wesleyan theology that we almost tend to ignore the fact that sanctification is not the ultimate end. Stanza 6 in this hymn sheds light on this by bringing glorification into view in appealing to the life after the general resurrection in the new heaven and new earth. Wesley further refers to the language of 1 John 3, which says "we shall become like him for we shall see him as he is." And, of course, the final line resonates with all this: We shall "all be lost in God."

So the last stanza is all about sanctification and glorification. What has this to do with the Nativity? The Incarnation is what has made it all possible. The Ancient and "Infant" of Days.

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!