Link to the Readings HERE.
Link to a service sheet HERE.
Collect of the Day:
O God,
who by the leading of a star
didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles;
Mercifully grant, that we, which know thee now by faith,
may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I wonder if you have sung any Christmas carols this season. We have not sung them in church, as you all know. But I wonder if you listened to the carol service we recorded in Adare, or some other carol service, or Songs of Praise, and sang along with gusto in the seclusion of your own home, where no one could tell you not to sing because of the danger of infecting someone else with Covid-19.
It’s a grand thing to do, singing Christmas carols. I’ve been singing them at home the past month or so, and I can tell you, you would not want to be there! I don’t sing so well! But I’ve always loved singing Christmas carols. When I was growing up and taking piano lessons, I would sit at the piano and play the carols, and my younger sister and I would sing them. For this reason, I actually know the words to many verses of a number of the most well-known carols.
My favourite carol has always been “Joy to the World.” It was written about 1719 by a famous hymn-writer and clergyman named Isaac Watts. The funny thing about this carol is that it was inspired by Psalm 98, a very joyful psalm that starts,
“Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things.”
And later the psalm calls on the whole earth to sing praises to the Lord: the sea and thunder and rivers and hills, and all sorts of musical instruments and human voices. This part of the psalm shows up in the carol when we sing:
“Joy to the world! the Savior reigns,
Let us our songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.”
When I was singing this carol as a child, there was a verse that we do not sing now, that is not in our hymnal here. It was the third verse, and it goes like this:
“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make his blessings flow,
far as the curse is found.”
I guess we don’t sing it because it sounds gloomy. All that talk of sins and sorrows, thorns and curses.
The word “curse” refers to the Fall described in the Book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree that God told them not to eat. It is a way of describing how sins and sorrows and even the thorns in the ground arose in the first place: how human beings strayed from their initial closeness with God and instead wandered in the wilderness, struggling to get back to God.
These days, this verse could be a plea, a prayer. We have had our fill of sorrows this past 10 months. Covid-19 could even feel like a curse, spread throughout the world, over all humankind. And so we could sing, and pray,
“No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground.”
Let your blessings flow upon us, O God,
far as this curse is found.
And what “Joy to the World” is about is how Christ at his coming makes all things new. It’s what Psalm 98 is about. It’s really what Christmas is about. It’s what the Christian faith is all about. Jesus Christ at his coming makes all things new.
And as 2021 begins, this is a year when we pray to have all things be made new. When our Christmas services were cancelled, because of high Covid-19 numbers here in Ireland, I was sad that we were not having Christmas services. But I thought, Christmas is here! Christ is born, not only in the stable in Bethlehem, but also in our hearts and lives, if we let him. Another name for Christ is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” God is with us.
If you read — or sing! — “Joy to the World” and pay attention to the words, you will notice that it does not say anything about a baby being born in a stable in Bethlehem. It is not obviously a Christmas carol. Instead, it starts,
“Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing.”
Of course it applies to Christmas. It could also apply to any day of the year. And when we sing, “Let earth receive her King,” it has special meaning for the Day of Epiphany. Epiphany is the end of the Christmas season (though you can keep it going in some way or other until 2nd February, if you want to). Epiphany is the day we remember the three Wise Men from the East, the Three Kings, following a star seeking the child Jesus, and bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And because the three Wise Men were foreigners, Epiphany is the day that we celebrate Jesus coming as a light to all the world, a King to all nations.
This remains true even after the Christmas season is past, even after the trees have come down, and all the lights and the decorations have been put away, and we head into the thick of winter. The light of Christ remains with us, shining as a star, leading us in paths of truth and grace.
So even though you may not keep singing Christmas carols after this, even at home, remember that Christ came at Christmas, and he comes to make all things new, and he is a light to all the world. And so I end with the last verse of “Joy to the World”:
“He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove,
The glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love.”
Amen.