A Poem and a Point - O Holy Night

For the past several years, I have unpacked a Christmas carol for my message at Christmastide.  I don't teach from a manuscript as when I deliver my weekly sermons but, rather, from notes like these that follow below.  Several folks have asked me to post them as I usually do my sermons.

Christmastide

December 31, 2017

A Poem and a Point:  O Holy Night

Colossians 3:16

Introduction

Favorite Carol?  My favorites…

·       Theologically:  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing or O Little Town of Bethlehem

·       Melody – Wexford Carol – Celtic carol telling the story

·       Mystery – Of the Father’s Love Begotten or Let All Earth Keep Silence

·       Majesty of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”

Obviously, when Christmas comes, we want to sing our favorite carols.  It’s a time of the year when feelings run very deep and we feel that we are alive when those feelings are stirred.  That’s OK.  It’s good and it’s wholesome.  But when it comes to the music that we sing as believers, the criteria for selection must run deeper than personal preference. 

Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Kenneth Wuest offers a more literal translation of the verse:  The word of Christ, let it be continually at home in you in abundance; with every wisdom teaching and admonishing each other by means of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with the grace singing in in your hearts to God. (Wuest)

What I want to get across to you this morning is the vital importance of what we sing together.  In our particular tradition of worship, based on the revival meetings of D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham that so powerfully shaped us in the last 150 years, music has served a very important role in our corporate meetings.  Unfortunately, it falls short of the value that the Apostle Paul placed on it in the text we’ve just read.  Central to my understanding of my calling in life and ministry is the task of correcting the limited role that music has been assigned in our tradition.  I have been taught, told, and admonished for over thirty years that the purpose of music in the worship service was to prepare the heart of the people to hear the Word of God from the preacher.   Without doubt, that was the paradigm of functional music that all of the revivalists have used since Moody’s time.  Here’s the big difference:  corporate worship is not a revival service.  Certainly, evangelism should happen within our morning worship service.  But it is not the primary reason we gather.  We gather to worship – to engage with God by offering our praise and prayers and to hear his Word that we might be transformed.  Teaching, as the Apostle commands us in our text, is an essential part of our engagement with God in worship because our calling is to be “learners” or “disciples.”  Evangelism happens when seekers experience the presence of God while Christians worship and they are drawn to want to enter the Kingdom of God as well. 

Worship music, then, serves much more than just “preparing the people’s hearts to hear God’s word.”  It has intrinsic value to teach and shape us as disciples.  One of the most effective ways that we learn the stories and themes of the Bible is to sing them.  Ask anyone who teaches children.  What is true for children is true for adults as well.  The saying is true:  “Sing it; you’ll never forget it!” 

Criteria for Song Selection – A Pastoral Role:

·       Is it biblically and theologically true?  Are we singing the whole gospel?

·       Is it sing-able?

·       Is it in the congregation’s musical voice?

·       Does it fit the moment?  (Worship flow)

That’s the point!  Music is biblically sanctioned as an effective means for spiritual formation.

O Holy Night #148

General Impressions of the Song

·       One of the most beautiful of Christmas hymns with its soaring melody and undulating accompaniment.

·       Not in most older hymnals because it was considered more for a soloist than a congregation.  (Necessary accompaniment, long vocal lines, rests…)  It does present some challenges.

·       Modern hymnals have included it because it is so beloved and has a good text.  It needs the flowing accompaniment.  The range is not too wide if the optional high note is not taken at the end.  (Octave and a third.)

The Poet and the Composer

Placide Cappeau – 1808 – 1877

·       Wine merchant who wrote poetry for his own enjoyment.

·       Parish priest asked him to write a Christmas poem.  Wrote it on December 3, 1847 on his way to Paris.  Took it to Adolph Adam who was friends with a mutual acquaintance.

·       Song premiered in his hometown that year at the Christmas Eve service.

Adolf Adam

·       A successful composer, though not considered one of the master composers of classical music.  He primarily composed for the stage, with over 80 works to his credit. 

John S. Dwight - translator

·       Pastor, music critic, and son of Timothy Dwight – Evangelical president of Yale University.

Criticism from the Church

·       Adam composed for the theater.

·       Cappeau became somewhat of a social radical later in life – a free-thinker, a socialist, and left the church. 

·       Some sources say the song was banned in France.

·       That is sometimes the case:  Later in life, the writer of “It is Well” became mentally ill, suffering messianic delusions.  Many of the composers of music did not have the most moral of lives…and yet we still use their music without offence.  If God can bring water out of a rock, then he can use the gifts of sinful men for his glory.  (Common grace)

The Text

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;

·       Night adds drama, but how do we know Christ was born at night?  “And there were shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night…”  Luke 2:8

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

·       “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

·       “The soul felt its worth.”  The Gospel must be individually “felt.”

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

·       “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”  (Isa. 40:1)

·       “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isa. 60:1)

Chorus

Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices!

O night divine! O night when Christ was born.

O night, O holy night, O night divine.

·       The angels of Luke 2:14 – “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.” 

·       Joining with the praise of the angels!

Verse 2:

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming;

With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand:

·       Beautiful poetic language – the necessity of faith.

·       Active remembering – making the past present!

So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land,

·       Narrating the story that we are a part of…

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend;

·       Profound paradox:  the King who was born to be a Servant. 

·       This is what the Incarnation means!  God became man!

Chorus

He knows our need, To our weakness is no stranger!

·       “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

·       Reflect on that for a moment…  Make it personal…

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King! your King! before him bend!

·       Active remembrance…

·       Captures the wonder of the Servant King.

Verse 3:

Truly He taught us to love one another;

·       “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  (John 15:12)

·       “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (I John 4:7-8)

His law is Love

·       “…the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5;14)

and His gospel is Peace;

·       “At the right time [God] will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.”  (Ephesians 1:10)

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,

And in his name all oppression shall cease,

·       Here you see the personality of the poet. 

·       Kingdom vision and theology.  The first shall be last…  Beattitudes…  In Christ, there is no slave, free, male or female…

·       Consider the era of 1847.  The oppression of the early industrial age.  Abolition of slavery in England in 1833, but not yet in America. 

·       Who is enslaved in your world?  Do we shun them or do we consider them our brother?

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we;

Let all within us praise his Holy name!

·       Response of joy when Christ rules our hearts…when the Kingdom comes. 

Chorus

Christ is the Lord, then ever! ever praise we!

His pow'r and glory, evermore proclaim!

His pow'r and glory, evermore proclaim!

·       Finish with glorious praise for the Sovereign Lord who became one of us!

·       Reflect on what we just sang…the praise springs from those truths. 

Concluding Thoughts

This is activist and Kingdom theology!  You cannot sing this Christmas hymn and be socially irresponsible.  Christ, the Lord who humbled himself to become vulnerable to a cruel world compels us to act in his name.

I wonder why Cappeau left the church.  Today, France is one of the most secular countries in the world.  I suspect one of the reasons why he became so frustrated with the church is because he viewed it as part of the social problems he was concerned with rather than part of the solution.  If you know any French history, you know that corrupt church leaders were often pulling the strings of political leaders. 

May we learn that the political kingdoms of this world can never be the same as the Kingdom of God until Christ returns.  May we as the church be wise to distinguish ourselves from the ruling systems of this world and align our passions and our programs only with the Kingdom of God. 

What we sing does matter!  May we be inspired and transformed by the Word of Christ as it richly dwells within us.  Let’s say our verse together:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Let’s encourage each other in song…

Many of youtube's clips to not include all the original words.  Here's a beautiful rendering that does:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTFG_nvreoI