WE WELCOME YOU, PRINCE OF PEACE!

WE WELCOME YOU,

PRINCE OF PEACE!

As we continue to share the season of Advent, we lit our second candle, the Candle of Peace.  In this world we sometimes wonder “where is our peace?”  Problems come into our lives that will shake us to the very core of our being.  And sometimes it is just a phone away.  We think everything is going well.  We are looking forward to Christmas and the New Year, and then we hear news that a Radiologist has found something suspicious and we are scheduled for more tests. 

But no matter what the test results may be, we as followers of our Lord Jesus know where our peace lies.  We can run right into His arms with our problem and isn’t it wonderful to know that He is right there and is aware of the whole situation and whatever the future may hold.

As I was thinking about this blog and what song the Lord would have me share, I was looking at our wonderful Christmas carols, and thinking of a song that would speak of the peace that He brings to us in these difficult times.  Let me share with you the story of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”.

“Although he was a Unitarian minister, Edmund Sears believed in the deity of Christ.  He also believed in the angels’ message of “peace on earth.”

This hymn, written in Massachusetts in 1849, focuses on the angels’ song of “peace on earth.” Like many other hymns written in America during the mid-1800’s, it might be called a “horizontal hymn.” Such hymns called people to live well, to be at peace, and to honor God.  It seeks to encourage people who are bent “beneath life’s crushing load,” as the third stanza says, to stop and hear the message of Christmas sung by the angels.

Peace was a timely topic when Sears penned these words.  Tensions were rising in America, leading toward the Civil War.  But the peace promised by the angels is not only national; it is personal as well.” (Hymns by Petersen).

IT CAME UPON THE MIDNIGHT CLEAR

“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, goodwill to men, from heav’ns all-gracious King!” The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled, and still their heav’nly music floats o’er all the weary world: above its sad and lowly plains they bend on hov’ring wing, and ever o’er its babel sounds the blessed angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way  with painful steps and slow, look now! For glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing: o rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing.

For lo, the days are hast’ning on, by prophets seen of old, when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold, when the new heav’n and earth shall own the Prince of Peace their King, and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.  (Edmund Hamilton Sears)

The world during the time of Christ’s birth was a sad and weary world.  The people were bowed down with the weight of Roman rule.  There had been no prophetic word for 400 years, and they waited anxiously for their Messiah to come.  And He came that night, The Prince of Peace, born in a lowly stable.  The shepherds out in the fields of Bethlehem saw a wondrous event in the skies that night.  The angels bending low announcing that He was here at last, our Gracious King.  And the world of the shepherds stopped for a moment in time in the stillness of that night to hear the glorious song of the angels.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” Luke 2:14.

And today we live in a weary world with its turmoil and pain.  And our Precious Lord calls us to stop in the rushing world of Christmas, the noise of traffic, the crowded stores, the business of the season and listen with our hearts to the song of the angels as they proclaim peace to our hearts. But it takes our willingness to just put aside all the noise of the season and hear the music of the skies.  He calls us to come away with Him, just sit in His presence and let the world go by.  Can we do that?  The babe of Bethlehem speaks of peace and joy to come.

Are you bending under a heavy load right now?  Are your steps slow and painful?  Listen to the music of the angels, listen to the lovely carols, each and every verse  We walk a weary road sometimes and He calls us to rest and listen with our hearts and minds tuned on Him, the Savior of the world.  The One who came as that precious baby and remember that before Him was the shadow of a cross!

And yes, the days are hastening on quickly.  The prophecies are being fulfilled, and the signs of that wonderful day coming are upon us.  We look up, keeping our eyes on the heavens and someday those heavens will open and Jesus will come!  This time He will not come lowly and meek, as He came the first time, but this time He comes as the Conquering King of kings!  And we all look forward to that day when at last there will be continuing and forever “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.” And we will join in joyful chorus around the Throne that joyful song of the angels!

Be Blest in Jesus’ Name,

Pastor Sharon