"It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold ..."
We didn't sing that carol this morning, but only because there isn't time for all the wonderful music of this season. It's certainly one of my favourites, which is probably why the words popped instantly into my head when I was pondering a title for this music-centred service. I love it not only because it's the only famous carol written by a Unitarian, but because it's much more concerned about a message of peace and goodwill than about the legendary angels who are said to have carried that message. The Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears may or may not have believed that Jesus was born in a stable - that doesn't seem to have been a big part of the impetus for his words - and it's hard to tell how important the other details were to him, the midnight clear, the cloven skies, the angels' peaceful wings unfurled, and all the rest of the traditional scene. Probably not very important. And yet he begins his song with a very traditional picture: angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold.
I'll stick my neck out and say that Mr. Sears knew very well that those winged creatures with golden harps were purely imaginary - but that the visual image was very precious, and the musical image - the supposed song of the angels, even more precious. A song of peace and goodwill, sung by messengers not bound by time or space - angelic messengers - coming from a realm of plenty, where the musical instruments were made of pure gold. Probably diamond-encrusted, too, I shouldn't wonder!
Edmund Sears was no airy-fairy dreamer, though. He knew that whatever might have happened on a particular night two millennia ago, it hadn't solved the world's troubles. Even if "the world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing," those who heard had not taken enough notice. Since then, "beneath the angel strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong." We may have heard, but we didn't listen! "And we who fight the wars hear not the love song which they sing ..." So what good was that glorious song of old - what difference did it make?
Perhaps that question, "What difference did it make?" is the wrong one to ask. Perhaps a better question is "What difference can it make?" Can we still hear that love song, as the writer called it? Can you hear a love song? What is that song for you? It may not have anything to do with Christmas, or with Hannukah or Winter Solstice or anything seasonal at all. But my guess is that if you try, if you listen very carefully to your heart, you can hear a song there, a song worth hearing. Here are some of the possible words you might be able to hear, if you listen very carefully - I've taken them from the songs in our hymn book, but the words are just another kind of image and you can translate them into your own word-pictures. Here are some of the songs worth hearing - listen, now, and perhaps you'll hear the good news in your heart:
The freer step, the fuller breath, the wide horizon's grander view,
The sense of life that knows no death, the Life that maketh all things new.
'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free, 'tis a gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'twill be in the valley of love and delight.
Life nor death can part us, O thou Love eternal,
Shepherd of the wandering star and souls that wayward flee!
Homeward draws the spirit, to thy Spirit yearning,
Who was and is and evermore shall be.
We sing the heart courageous, the youthful eager mind;
We sing of hopes undaunted, of friendly ways and kind.
We sing the roses waiting beneath the deep-piled snows;
We sing the earth's great splendour, whose beauty round us glows.
Now the leafless landscape settles in repose,
Waiting for the quiet of the winter snows.
Now as darkness gathers let us pause and hear
All the slowing pulse-beats of the waning year.
O'er white expanses sparkling clear the radiant morns unfold;
The solemn splendours of the night burn brighter through the cold;
Life mounts in every throbbing vein, love deepens round the hearth,
And clearer sounds the angel hymn, "Good will to all on earth."
In the lonely midnight, on the wintry hill, shepherds heard the angels singing, "Peace, goodwill."
Listen, O ye weary, to the angels' song: unto you the tidings of great joy belong.
Those are all joyful messages, worth listening to, I think. Of course, a life of predictable, orderly understandable sounds, is much more comfortable and safe than seeing and hearing angels! But if you do happen to catch the sound of heavenly music -- if you're suddenly aware of an upsurge of hope in what had seemed liked dire straits -- if you have a sense that someone's looking out for you even though your rational mind tells you that's foolish -- well, don't be afraid! The message these angels bring is good news, not bad; it's the assurance that even in the darkest time, light can and will break forth, because the love at the heart of the universe cannot be extinguished or even contained! So, be not afeard; be not afraid; fear not. Because the message that the angels bring is a wonderful one. Let's listen for it, and let's keep in mind that, in a poet's words,
Blessed are those who stop in the midst of the party-going
and the gift-buying and the card-sending,
To hear the simple song of love.
Their children will also hear the music.
Just listening to music like that is good for the soul, no doubt about that! And listening is something most of us do far too little of these days - silence is often perceived as uncomfortable if it goes on for more than a few moments. The writer of the carol would probably have even more cause today to plead with us, "Oh hush the noise ..... and hear the angels sing." But there is also in all of us, I think, an urge to respond to what we hear, as well as letting it sink into our being. The music we hear, especially when coupled with stirring words, can even inspire us to action, as great leaders, good and bad, have always known. Violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman says,
"I think what music does to us all is give us an opportunity to rise from our social beings - we are not kept in our little villages but become part of the global village, really, because the world becomes yours when you make music."
Ah, the miracles when you make music, as well as hearing it. Not all of us have the gift of a beautiful singing voice, or the ability to play and instrument, but all of us can let ourselves be inspired by what we hear into new ways of living. There is creativity of one kind or another in each of us and it can be released by others' creativity, as in music. A painter and sculptor said, "If I don't get up and paint, if I don't get up and work on some kind of sculpture, I don't feel that I'm living. The duende, the creative spirit, says, 'Come on: Do it! Do it! Do it!'" What response does the music of this season evoke in you, I wonder? Whatever it is, when we've listened to the angels, let's respond with all our heart, singing with all our heart, whether it's literal singing or the song of our actions, our caring, our being. And the singing itself will be the message. Even when the words are a little obscure for us, the music itself is the message, the music we make with our lives.
Here are some of the messages you might want to sing with your voice -- or your life -- or both -- again taken from some of the wonderful songs in our hymn book. Listen to them now and consider your response to their music:
Shine out, ye lights of Christmas from earth and tree and star!
And let the warmth of Christmas shed kindness near and far!
And clang, ye bells of Christmas, upon the frosty air!
And may the joy of Christmas spread gladness everywhere!
In the happy Christmas spirit, hear the angels from on high
Sing their ancient salutations: joy's a gift you cannot buy.
So may we, with heart that sings, share the truth this season brings.
People, look East. The time is near of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able; trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look East and sing today: Love, the Guest is on the way.
Children of the prophet's word whether free or fettered,
Wake the echoes of the songs where you may be scattered.
Yours the message cheering that the time is nearing
Which shall see nations free, tyrants disappearing.
Light one candle for the strength that we need to never become our own foe.
Light one candle for those who are suff'ring the pain we learned so long ago.
Light one candle for all we believe in, that anger won't tear us apart.
And light one candle to bring us together with peace as the song in our heart.
Don't let the light go out; it's lasted for so many years.
Don't let the light go out; let it shine through our love and our tears.
If you cannot sing like angels, if you cannot speak before thousands,
You can give from deep within you. You can change the world with your love.
One of my favourite moments from one of my favourite stories, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, is that wonderful, redemptive moment when the Whos down in Whoville stand together in a circle singing their tremendous Hallelujah chorus of carolling on Christmas morning. It's then that the mean old Grinch sees that he didn't stop Christmas from coming it came! Music is powerful. The songs of our hearts can make miracles. I'll end my reflections with some words from the Christmas 1995 newsletter of the Scott Mission, a Toronto agency:
Our own SHEPHERDS, ANGELS and SAGES who are the children from our Day Care Centre, will enrich and cheer the Christmas season for our friends. It was to lowly SHEPHERDS, those whose job was that of looking after sheep on the hillsides of Bethlehem, those who would be out in all kinds of weather including the bitter evening air, that the Christmas message was first announced. In the same way, at [our] Mission, it will be to the poor,many of whom are out in the cold throughout the night, that a message of hope ... will be given ...
Our own choir of ANGELS, the children in our care, will sing the Christmas message of wonder to the men and women who look to us for help. We trust that the song of peace and blessing which the angels sang so long ago, will still warm the hearts of everyone who hears the message.
SAGES, or the wise, will heed the message of the angels and spread the good tidings of great joy, knowing as one of the carols so beautifully tells us, AYe who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.@ The wise will ... act on the message of the angels and bring gifts ... not counting the cost but treasuring the opportunity.
May we go into this holiday season with a song of joy in our hearts, that glorious song of old, and may we make music in the way we live our lives. So may it be.