Christmas Carols unwrapped: It came upon a midnight clear

 One of the things that I love about Christmas, particularly as someone within the Salvation Army, is carolling. I play in our brass band and I love when the time comes to begin to play carols! Often we sing Christmas carols but don’t really take notice of the words or where they came from. Recently as I have been looking at some of the Christmas Carols we sing, I have found some fascinating stories. For the second Carol in my series of Christmas Carols unwrapped we are looking at a beautiful carol - ‘It came upon a midnight clear’

This carol was written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in America the 19th Century. It was written at a time of great personal turmoil. He was a pastor and had recently suffered a breakdown as a result of the stresses of ministry and had moved back to a congregation he had previously shepherded. 

Sears was also struggling with the state of the world around him. The United States were at war with Mexico and further afield there was revolution in Europe. These things weighed heavily on his heart and he felt the tension of living in a fallen world. It was with this backdrop that the beautiful words of the poem was  written. 

It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth

To touch their harps of gold;

Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,

From Heaven’s all-gracious King!

The world in solemn stillness lay

To hear the angels sing.

But with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong.

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing.

 Still through the cloven skies they come

With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heavenly music floats

O’er all the weary world;

Above its sad and lowly plains

They bend on hovering wing,

And ever o’er its Babel-sounds

The blessèd angels sing.

 For lo! the days are hastening on,

By prophet bards foretold,

When with the ever-circling years

Comes round the age of gold,

When peace shall over all the earth

Its ancient splendours fling,

And the whole world give back the song

Which now the angels sing.

The carol shows the conflict that Sear felt and it is really interesting that this Christmas Carol doesn’t focus on the manger 2000 years ago but on the conflict and tension he felt within the world. 

When we look at the world today and all of the conflict we see between countries, between communities, between families and within people’s own hearts, this carol seems to resound even louder. The words of the second verse has always been a favourite of mine and the truth of the line “and man, at war with man, hears not The love song which they bring, O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing.” always strikes my soul.  That line always challenges my thinking about the noise we make as Christians and our actions. We often say ‘actions speak louder than words’ and in a world that doesn’t want to hear the truth of the gospel, we as Christians have the opportunity to live out that truth in our actions. 

But with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled

Two thousand years of wrong.

And man, at war with man, hears not

The love song which they bring;

O hush the noise, ye men of strife,

And hear the angels sing.

This Christmas carol also holds the tension that is seen throughout scripture, and felt within our world of the now and not yet. When we look to the manger and the baby that was born, we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us, and when we look at the world we long for the day when he will return. This Christmas, more than ever, I recognise the tension of living in a world where we celebrate God who comes close, but long for the day when Jesus returns forever. Within that tension and longing comes great hope because we know God WILL do it! 

The story of Sears and the backdrop for his writing brings a beautiful dynamic to this carol. As a church leader who has experienced some really difficult seasons in ministry and as someone who looks to the world around me and feels a Godly heaviness and sorrow, the words take on a deeper meaning. But above all this carol is a song of hope, and of joy and it reminds me of the words of Jesus that I often cling to. As the passion translation so beautifully puts it:

For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world