Advent 2024: Sun 8 Dec
Wintry nights
Good King Wenceslas is set in deep, crisp and even snow. Kindness shown to a poor man and an exhortation to bless the poor in the last couple of lines hardly rates as a song about the Incarnation. It goes down great to a simple beat in the pub, but veers on the ridiculous when arrangers attempt to set it for robed choirs.
There is a romantic feel to carols that mention the topic of winter, reflecting the sort of weather we associate with the season of the year. We don’t know the day Jesus was born – this was decided by the Church in the 4th century against a Roman calendar. Scenes with snow are beloved by Christmas cards.
See amid the winter’s snow briefly mentions snow. To my mind the carol contains gems of truth, though the poetic sometimes takes over.
See, amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on Earth below,
See, the tender Lamb appears, [tender?]
Promised from eternal years. [technically, planned from eternal years; promised in the Bible]
Chorus:
Hail, thou ever blessed morn,
Hail redemption's happy dawn,
Sing through all Jerusalem, [why Jerusalem?]
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies;
He who, throned in height sublime,
Sits among the cherubim. [anachronism?]
Sacred Infant, all divine,
What a tender love was Thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this.…
In the bleak midwinter is a lovely carol. We might forgive the iron-hard earth and accumulation of snow as we ponder the subsequent verses.
in the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen
Snow on snow, snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter, long, long ago
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ
Enough for Him whom cherubim
Worship night and day
A breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay
Enough for Him whom angels fall down before
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore
Angels and archangels may have gathered there
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air
But only His mother in her maiden bliss
Worshiped the Beloved
With a kiss
What can I give Him
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb
If I were a wise man, I would do my part
Yet what I can, I give Him
Give my heart
The second verse goes straight to the return of Christ. After his second coming there will indeed be a new heaven and a new earth. This is the Lord of whom the poet Christina Rosetti gently writes as she contrasts his glory with the humble place of his birth.
She writes of the human baby with his human needs for feeding and comfort. I’m not sure that the animals in that place would necessarily be in awe, but it’s open to debate. She wonders whether the place may have been filled with the presence of angels, hosts of angels. If medieval theologians could ponder on how many angels could dance on a pin, I’m happy to believe that these spiritual beings can invade space in a way we can’t comprehend. But even in this throng, Jesus’ mother expresses her love, her care, her worship with a kiss.
Shepherds would not be able to give away the sheep they were looking after as they did not own them. Wise men apparently could do their part, whatever that means, but it contrives to rhyme with heart, at which point we are drawn into the worship and devotion of the infant incarnate Word of God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsGKePXgCd8&t=19s
The Bible Society has just published an article on this carol
Paul