Angels We Have Heard on High!
Hymn of the Day
“Angels We Have Heard on High”
Author: Traditional French Carol
Based on Luke 2:14
“And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth,
peace, good will toward men!’”
Angels we have heard on high,
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.
(refrain)
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings
Which inspire your heavenly song?
(refrain)
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing.
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ, the Lord, the newborn King!
(refrain)
See Him in a manger laid
Whom the choirs of angels praise!
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
While our hearts in love we raise!
(refrain)
(Refrain) "Gloria! In Excelsis Deo!"
(words used by permission - Public Domain)
Meditation
“Sweet Singing!”
This is a lovely carol from the French tradition. Imagine if you will, the following scene: Vast numbers of angels swiftly descended toward Earth through the star-sprinkled sky. The ‘lead’ angel halted them with a sign. The angels hovered with folded wings over a silent field near Bethlehem. “There they are,” said the lead angel, “the humble shepherds who have been chosen by God to receive our message. It will be the most wonderful news that mortal man has ever received. I can’t wait to see their reaction and to hear what they have to say when we tell them about the new Baby King. Are you ready with your great angelic chorus?”
The lead angel drifted slightly more downward so as to be seen by the shepherds below. The shepherds were terrified! Each one of them covered his face in the brilliance of the light, and cowered before the angels, but they were listening earnestly and with awe as the vision before them began to speak in their own language . . . began to speak, saying:
“Do not be afraid for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the little town of Bethlehem, the city of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. You will find Him lying in a cow’s manger in a crude stable. He is there with Mary, His mother, and Joseph, His father, who have been chosen by God Himself to be His parents during the time that He is on the Earth among the people.”
As the lead angel finished speaking to the shepherds, all of the angels were instantly surrounded by a brilliant heavenly host. Echoing through the sky was the most beautiful singing the shepherds had ever heard. They were exulting and praising God for the long-awaited gift of His Son. The Shepherds left their fields and their flocks and went with great haste to see the Savior with their own eyes. The angels sang as the Shepherds departed – "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will to all.”
The Bible teaches us that angels are the ministering servants of God and that they are continually being sent to help and protect us, the heirs of salvation. Certainly, their most important task, however, was this momentous occasion announcing Christ’s arrival on earth! Little is actually known of the origin of this inspiring 18th Century French carol, which has become something of a “universal” Christmas favorite, having been passed down through several generations, and having survived the “cut” of editors of a vast number of hymnals. In all of the world’s great religions, angels or something closely akin to angels, play an important part.
In the Judaeo-Christian tradition from which we come, they have traditionally been God’s messengers and have appeared to people during times of their great need for a message from God - - - a message of comfort, of reassurance, of explanation and the like. In several places in Scripture we read of angels “standing in the gap” between God and man. This seems to have been one of their most important functions, and it is easy to see this at work in the little story about the shepherds on the hillside overlooking Bethlehem the night Jesus was born.
It is relatively easy for us to understand how these shepherds were probably terrified by the sudden appearance of the angels in the quiet solitude of the night. They were perhaps even sleeping, huddled down around their small campfire, trying to stay warm in the cold of the night. They were in all likelihood simple men, not well-educated or wealthy, because the well-educated and wealthy did not become shepherds, living among the elements and giving their lives over to the care and keeping of some rather stupid animals. It is likely that they had known something of the prophecy that predicted the coming of a Messiah from God, and it is likely that they had some idea of what such a King would look like and be like when He arrived. I wonder what they thought when they heard about Jesus?
People who know me know that I believe passionately in angels and in their involvement in the everyday-ness of life. I believe that God sends them to us routinely to help us, to comfort us, to guide us, and to protect us, as well as to tell us what God what have us do and be. I believe that I had an encounter with an angel some years ago when I was in California when my aunt Evelyn died.
Some of you have heard the story. On the day of her death, I was riding with two of my cousins (her two youngest children, Bill and Tina) to the hospital. It was a very sad time as we were going over to be there when the respirator that had been keeping her alive for several days was disconnected, and to stay with her until she left this earth for her heavenly home. I had not known my family for very long at this time (only three years) since I was adopted at birth. I never had the opportunity to know my mother as she died before I found the family, and I had been having a nagging feeling of wonder about whether or not she would “approve” of my having found them and become part of them. I needed to know this, and my Aunt Evelyn had been one of the strongest voices of assurance to me that she would have been delighted, indeed.
As we approached an intersection near the hospital, the signal light turned red and Bill stopped to wait for the light. I said to Bill and Tina, as I glanced over my shoulder to my right, “You can laugh at me if you want to, but I have the strangest feeling that Dottie is close by.” (Dottie was my mother’s name.) I saw next to us a little red convertible sports car.
A woman was driving this car, and the prestige license plate on the back of the car said, “Dottie D”. I all but shrieked at Bill and Tina as I yelled, “Look, you guys! Look at that car!” As we pulled away from the intersection when the light changed, I looked back to get a glimpse of the driver of the car, but couldn’t see anything as the windows were of a dark-tint. All three of us gasped in great surprise because, you see, my mother drove a red sports convertible and spelled her name “D-O-T-T-I-E.” Her last name was “Davis” - - - “Dottie D”.
Since all three of us saw the car, I have to believe that it was no figment of my overactive imagination, and I can’t really believe that it was just “wishful thinking”, although I did wish quite intensely for reassurance that I had done the right thing in finding this family. Whatever the source, whether divine and angelic, or somehow “coincidental”, “I” believe that God sent a messenger to tell me that my mother was, indeed, nearby waiting to welcome her beloved sister into heaven, and that she knew that “I” was nearby. I believe she realized that I needed to know it was “ok” for me to be there and that God sent an angel with a message of reassurance. This is one of the most profound experiences of my life.
Angels and their messages grace the texts of countless numbers of hymns, many of them so familiar to us that I wonder if we sing them perfunctorily, taking them for granted, and not really taking in the words and the message that we are intended to receive. What do you think? Will you perhaps, as I will, try to pay closer attention to the singing of the angels this Christmas?
Prayer – Dear God, we thank You that there have been those times in our lives when we have really heard the angels on high singing your praises. We thank You, too, that you are concerned about us on a day-to-day basis, knowing our needs before we even speak them to you, and that you send us your messages of love, mercy, grace, comfort, and assurance in the form of angels and angelic messages. Help us to be sensitive to the nearness of the angels in our lives, and help us to be as angels in the lives of others around us, taking your Word into all the hurting world, for we ask these things, as we ask all things, in Jesus’ precious Name. Amen ~
Activity – Plan a party. Christmas provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate. Plan the type of party you’d most like to give . . . buffet or seated dinner, Hors ‘d Oeuvres or dessert . . . soup and salad or Pot-Luck. Make a guest list. Make a list of people who might like to help you. Plan your theme and your food. Arrange for someone to help clean-up. Ask someone to take pictures. Have a wonderful time!
“Music is God’s gift to man, the only art of heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to heaven.”
Walter Savage Lander
