My all-time favorite Christmas carol is Charles Wesley’s, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.
I trust you will see why as we move through its stanzas and consider
its message. 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.
Invitation
The fact of the Incarnation of the Son of God is for us a powerful
invitation to worship him. This is what the first stanza is all about.
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
The second stanza is a meditation on why the angels and the nations
sing every Advent and Christmas. 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. 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: Continue at Daniel Hyde
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