![]() Finally, we pray to Jesus that we would know the reality of our union with him and enjoy communion with him: “Now in mystic union join, Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.” Invocation: Change Us! We pray for promise of Genesis 3:15 to be made real in our lives, when we sing: “Rise, the woman's conqu'ring Seed, bruise in us the serpent’s head.” We pray that Paul's teaching in Ephesians 4:24 would also be made real in our lives, when we sing: “Now display Thy saving power, ruined nature now restore.” The grace of the Son’s incarnation restores our human nature. We pray to him, “Come, Desire of nations, come, fix in us Thy humble home,” as we long for his indwelling presence with us. Stanza four is an invocation-a calling upon-of Jesus Christ to now be at work within us by dwelling in us. The One who was born on Christmas causes us to be born again as Christians. The stanza then says, “Mild He lays His glory by,” and the threefold benefits of this act of the Son: We sing, “Ris’n with healing in His wings,” because Jesus heals us from the sickness of our sins. We sing, “Light and life to all He brings,” because Jesus opens our eyes and resurrects our souls unto eternal life. We sing, “Hail the Sun of Righteousness,” because Jesus gives the righteousness of God to sinners. We sing, “Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace,” because Jesus gives peace. The third stanza is another meditation, this time on the benefits of the incarnation. Meditation: The Benefits of the Incarnation It is always amazing to sing the doctrine that the Son of God added to himself a human nature, what we call the hypostatic union: We sing because Jesus is eternal God: “Christ, by highest Heav'n adored Christ the everlasting Lord.” We sing because this eternal Son has become man, in what we call the incarnation. The second stanza is a meditation on why the angels and the nations sing every Advent and Christmas. ![]() The angels sing, “Hark! The herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Because of their cry, we are invited to echo back: “Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies with th’angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem!” Meditation: The Incarnate Lord This is what the first stanza is all about. The fact of the Incarnation of the Son of God is for us a powerful invitation to worship him. While you may be used to the three-stanza version found in most hymnals (e.g., Psalter Hymnal #339 Trinity Hymnal #203), I will use a five-stanza version my congregation sings every Christmas Eve at our service of lessons and carols. I trust you will see why as we move through its stanzas and consider its message. Wesley, Herr Mendelsohn and Billy Cummings, for the beauty of the gospel set to music! But we thank the Father most of all for revealing to us his Son! Let the power and message of the music ring.My all-time favorite Christmas carol is Charles Wesley’s, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. Isn’t that the Christmas story in a nutshell? God in Christ is always doing something that we could never imagine! Sometimes, even our “No way!” can become “Yes, his way” in Christ. He took Wesley’s words and Mendelssohn’s tune and combined them as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” In 1855, another musician, William Cummings, brought the work of Wesley and Mendelssohn together in spite of what they had wanted. But neither genius nor genre could prevent the work of these two richly talented men from coming together to herald the good news! Mendelssohn intended his music for non-religious, secular use. Wesley intended his lyrics for slow, solemn music. In 1739, Charles Wesley wrote the lyrics to a song he called, “Hark How All the Welkin Ring Glory to the King of Kings.” A century later, Felix Mendelssohn wrote the second chorus of a cantata commemorating John Gutenberg’s invention of printing.
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