advent day fourteen

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, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

angels

The birth of God’s son to a young girl in a cattle shed in Bethlehem was so momentous, so exciting, so full of the promise of what he would be and do, that for a few moments heaven broke through to earth and the angels sang. Painters and song writers through the ages have struggled to show how ‘other-worldly’ angels are– they are not like us; their clothes, their music, their hair is different. But most of all their faces are different– they are glowing somehow, because they spend all their time looking on the radiance of God.

They could have stayed there, in heaven where there is no sin, no poverty, no pollution, no greed, no violence. But the events of that first Christmas were so compelling that crowds of angels came to watch. Gabriel came to visit Mary, choirs appeared to the shepherds, an angel spoke to Joseph in a dream– they are all over the place, they can’t keep away from the amazing events unfolding on earth.

The birth of Jesus was, and still is, the most incredible event to occur in the history of heaven and earth. Let 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 over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

I bring you good news of great joy