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!"

Hymns for the Nativity: XIV

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

1. O Astonishing Grace,

That the Reprobate Race

Should be so reconcil'd!

What a Wonder of Wonders that GOD is a Child?!

2. The Creator of all,

To repair our sad Fall,

From his Heav'n stoops down,

Lays hold of our Nature, and joins to his own.

3. Our Immanuel came,

The whole World to redeem,

And Incarnated shew'd

That Man may again be united to GOD!

4. And shall we not hope,

After GOD to wake up,

His Nature to know?

His Nature is sinless Perfection below.

5. To this Heavenly Prize,

By Faith let us rise

To his Image ascend,

Apprehended of GOD let us GOD apprehend.

This is how God brings reconciliation with a fallen humanity: by becoming a child. I can think of no more fitting term to describe this grace other than "Astonishing!"

As we've seen in other hymns before this one the first portion of this hymn communicates how the Incarnation is a redeeming event and the latter portion is about our future hope in the resurrection. There are so many good 'R' words when it comes to describing the saving significance of the Christ event: redeem, rectify, restore, resuscitate, renew, reconcile, revitalize, revive, ransom, raise, resurrect, regenerate, recapitulate, release, rescue, reveal, (is there a way to turn 'make righteous' into a single word?). Charles employs a great word in stanza 2 in 'repair.' It's the fixing of something broken: imagine a broken vessel. God takes the time to piece it back together and does so through the Incarnation! I once saw a preacher use a communion cup that had cracks in it, but the cup had been repaired. He used that as an illustration of God's reparation of our lives and how that enables our 'communion' with God & one another: reparation of broken relationships.

Regarding this reparation and reunification of God & man, hear what St. Irenaeus said regarding the purpose of the Incarnation: "The Word of God, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was revealed by the prophets according to the character of their prophecy and according to the nature of the economies of the Father, by whom all things were made, and who, in the last times, to recapitulate all things, became a man amongst men, visible and palpable, in order to abolish death, to demonstrate life, and to effect communion between God and man!"

Do you see, then, the connection between the Incarnation and the resurrection? Communion between God and humanity means the abolition of death and the application of life (eternal)! That's how we can transition from stanza 3 to stanza 4 without changing the subject. That's how Advent is a season not only of remembrance but of anticipation!

Regarding stanza 4 and the notion of "sinless perfection." As you may know, the Wesleys walked a delicate line in how they understood the relationship between sin and perfection. We can see in this hymn that "sinless perfection" (which is of the highest sort) is what we shall experience in the glorified life after the resurrection. That does not take away from the commandment to "be perfect" in this life, but the Wesleys are clear that the perfection in this life is about perfection in love and that the effects of sin are not completely obliterated until bodily death. That description does not completely suffice in explaining their concept of 'perfection,' but I'll leave that issue for another time where more space allows.

Finally, the last line is beautiful! God has apprehended us! Let us, then, apprehend God! Now in the society I live in, 'apprehend' often has the connotation of being taken into custody by the police. I'm not sure that provides the richest meaning to approximate Wesley's intention here. I think it's more about the Divine embrace. God's arms have opened in our direction! We won't know God until we open ours and welcome his embrace.

Hymns for the Nativity: XI

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

1. Light of those whose dreary Dwelling
Borders on the Shades of Death,
Come, and by thy Love's revealing
Dissipate the Clouds beneath:
The new Heaven and Earth's Creator,
In our deepest Darkness rise,
Scattering all the Night of Nature,
Pouring Eye-sight on our Eyes.

2. Still we wait for thy Appearing,
Life and Joy thy Beams impart,
Chasing all our Fears, and cheering
Every poor benighted Heart.
Come, and manifest the Favour
GOD hath for our ransom'd Race;
Come, thou universal Saviour,
Come, and bring the Gospel-Grace.

3. Save us in thy great Compassion,
O Thou mild, pacific Prince,
Give the Knowledge of Salvation,
Give the Pardon of our Sins;
By thine all-restoring Merit,
Every burden'd Soul release,
Every weary wandring Spirit
Guide into thy perfect Peace.

Textual note: in stanza 3, the 1st ed. (1745) read "By thine all-redeeming Merit." The one above reflects the 2nd ed. (1788). The language of that line is strikingly similar to one in Hymn X, which reads "By thine all-sufficient merit." Really, any of these terms makes good theological sense. Redemption connotes the purchase that Christ made for us. In many places in the Wesleys' writings it's about liberty from something, namely the grips of Satan and evil. Restoration is more about a return to something, namely the favor and/or image of God: the former indicating the doctrine of justification; the latter the doctrine of sanctification.

Much of this hymn is about the imagery of light and darkness (esp. stanza 1). It's really a beautiful picture, again, of the connection between the first and second comings of Christ. The language of restoring our eyesight is vivid. The union of God & man in the person of Jesus has a "revealing" quality. Hence, revelation/restoration of sight has a significant role in reconciliation it seems. I want to propose something. I haven't seen this suggested anywhere directly, but I am thinking of the passage in the middle of Mark's gospel where Jesus touched the blind man twice in order to bring full restoration. Mark 8.22-25: "And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked, 'Do you see anything?' And he looked up and said, 'I see men, but they look like trees, walking.' Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly."

There are many levels of significance here, not the least of which is its placement in the gospel as where the disciples are "getting" that Jesus is the Messiah but don't quite see clearly enough to understand what the Messiah was really going to do (suffer, die, and be raised again). It would take the remaining part of this gospel (and of Jesus' life) for them to be touched a second time, as it were, so that they could truly understand Jesus' identity. But I want to propose this as a rich passage for Advent: the tying together of the first and second appearances of Christ. Though Charles isn't elaborating on this Markan passage here, I think he would get the connection. By the first "touch," Jesus brings a restoration of sight, initially. The blind man began to see and could partly use his eyes, but things were still "cloudy" (stanza 1, line 4) and he needed full "eye-sight" (stanza 1, line 8). This full restoration will come in the new heaven and earth, whereby what began in Christ's first coming will be consummated in the fulfillment of this marriage. Call me an allegorist, but could it be that the "spit" has some sort of connection with baptism? In any case, Christ actually touched the man's eyes on two occasions. Christ touched humanity by becoming one of us. We can now see something, but things are still murky: "For now we see in a mirror dimly...Now I know in part..." We await that second (coming) touch, where we will see clearly: "...but then face to face...then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

Much more could be said about this hymn, but I want to at least mention the comfort and humility I sense when reading that God, in Christ, is "chasing all our fears, and cheering every poor benighted heart." God is cheering us on! In all the fan-dome we see in sports today, think upon and live in this: God is your biggest fan, cheering you out of darkness into his marvelous light!

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: 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!

Hymns for the Nativity: III

1. Angels speak, let Man give Ear,

Sent from high,

They are nigh,

And forbid our Fear.

2. News they bring us of Salvation,

Sounds of Joy

To employ

Every Tongue and Nation.

3. Welcome Tidings! to retrieve us

From our Fall,

Born for All,

CHRIST is born to save us.

4. Born his Creatures to restore,

Abject Earth

Sees His Birth,

Whom the Heavens adore.

5. Wrapt in Swaths th' Immortal Stranger

Man with Men

We have seen,

Lying in a Manger.

6. All to GOD's Free Grace is owing;

We are his

Witnesses,

Poor, and nothing knowing.

7. Simple Shepherds Us he raises,

Bids us sing

CHRIST the King,

And shew forth his Praises.

8. We have seen the King of Glory,

We proclaim

CHRIST his Name,

And record his Story.

9. Sing we with the Host of Heaven,

Reconcil'd

By a Child

Who to Us is given.

10. Glory be to GOD the Giver,

Peace and Love

From above

Reign on Earth for ever.

There is so much in this hymn! Though the stanzas are short, it is one of the longer hymns in the Nativity collection. I love the chiastic structure with he B and B' communicating such profound truths in short phrases: "From our Fall, Born for All," "Reconcil'd By a Child"...Amen!

Again, I am struck by the notion that Christ is "born" to save us. We hear all the time (especially during Holy Week, and rightly so) that Christ died (& rose again) to save us. But here, we see the important assertion that Christ was born to save us, affirming Christ's recapitulating "every stage of human life" in order to redeem it. This "born to save us" is not in the "BORN TO DIE!" sense that wants to move straight from the Manger to the Cross while ignoring Jesus' maturing, learning through obedience, teaching, healing, eluding, feeding, cleansing, and so on.

Stanza 8 resounds an important note: Christ is the King of Glory. Reminds me of Psalm 24:

1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it;

2 for he founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the waters.

3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?

Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to an idol

or swear by what is false.

5 He will receive blessing from the LORD

and vindication from God his Savior.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,

who seek your face, O God of Jacob. (Selah)

7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;

be lifted up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

8 Who is this King of glory?

The LORD strong and mighty,

the LORD mighty in battle.

9 Lift up your heads, O you gates;

lift them up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

10 Who is he, this King of glory?

The LORD Almighty---

he is the King of glory.

There is a command given before the entrance of the King. What a message for Advent!! Prepare the way! Make straight paths for him! Clean your hands and purify your hearts! Do not be afraid! For I bring you good tidings of GREAT JOY!!! On THIS DAY in the city of Bethlehem, a KING IS BORN, who is CHRIST THE LORD!! Go and see Him! Run! Lift up your heads and bow down! The King of Glory is coming! He is Mighty to Save...even as an Infant lying lowly in a Manger! There you will behold the face of the God of Jacob and you will receive blessing from the LORD!

Hymns for the Nativity: II

1. Ye Heavenly Choir,

Assist me to sing,

And strike the soft Lyre,

And honour our King;

His mighty Salvation

Demands all our Praise,

Our blest Adoration,

And loftiest Lays.

2. All Glory to GOD,

Who ruleth on high,

And now hath bestow'd,

And sent from the Sky

CHRIST JESUS, the Saviour,

Poor Mortals to bless;

The Pledge of his Favour,

The Seal of their Peace.

Psalm 19:1 says "The heavens declare the Glory of God!" Think of how this was fulfilled on that "beautiful scandalous night" when the Heavenly choir broke out in this chorus. God & sinners now reconciled in the Son, who restores us to the favor of God, and establishing his reign of peace (peace = the Presence of Christ).

I'm constantly reminded of the common description of God's salvation as "mighty". The atonement wrought in Christ is both a demonstration and act of the tender love of God towards humanity and requires a divine strength to rescue and rip us from the grip of evil in our lives. Yes, God's salvation is indeed Mighty!