Christmas Eve Sermon “Confirming Actively”
Luke 2:1-20
When Charles Wesley originally published the popular “Hymn for Christmas Day” in 1739, the opening lines were different. We know this hymn today by the lines which were changed, but originally the people sang,
Hark how all the welkin rings, “Glory to the King of kings.”
It was George Whitefield who changed those words in 1753 to the much more popular “Hark! The Herald Angels sing, ‘Glory to the new-born King.’” It is reported that Charles Wesley was fine with the change in these words, but that John Wesley was not so pleased.
Years later, in the preface to another collection of hymns, John wrote about those who edited him and Charles. “None of them is able to mend either the sense or the verse,” he vented. He may well have had Whitefield in mind.
While the edit added to the popularity of the hymn, John did have a point. Actually, Wesley had two points, at least when it came to this hymn.
The first point is this: the angels in the Christmas story don’t sing. They “say.” An angel appears to the shepherds and says that the savior is born. Other angels then appear and join in to say, “Glory to God.” That is what we just heard in the scripture reading. It is what we have heard Linus Van Pelt say every year in the Charlie Brown Christmas pageant. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, saying.” So, despite its popularity, Whitefield was wrong about herald angels singing – at least, they weren't singing to the shepherds on Christmas night.
The second point is that “the welkin rings” is a much grander image than mere angels singing, even as it is more obscure. It is grander, that is, if we know what “the welkin” is. And it is “the welkin,” not “a welkin.”
Don’t worry about it if you don't know what the welkin is. Your education has not failed you. Welkin was an archaic word even in Wesley's day. Shakespeare only used it a handful of times, and Chaucer used it only once. The welkin was the word for the dome people believed separated heaven and earth. The King James Version of the Bible could have used “the welkin” in Genesis 1, but the translators decided to use the more readily familiar “the firmament”.
In a time when the church bell was the only way to alert a community, Charles Wesley declared that an announcement of the birth of Jesus was so big that the bell-shaped firmament was ringing, calling all of heaven and earth to worship the King of kings. This announcement wasn’t just for those who, like the shepherds, were within the sound of the angel voices, whether they were singing or not. This announcement has all of earth ringing like a bell with the good news that God-is-with-us. The announcement of the birth of Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, is an event worthy of the once-in-eternity ringing of the welkin.
This imagery is why, later in the hymn, we sing: Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. The expression “the triumph of the skies” is the welkin ringing the good news of Jesus Christ, the Lord, come to live among us and to save us!
All around the world, Christians are gathering together to actively confirm the good news which was announced that very first Christmas. We will sing the good news with the angels, as Whitefield imagined, and as we affirm in the sacrament of communion. We will light candles, the light shining in the darkness, as the Gospel of John proclaimed. And in some communities, they will ring the church bells at midnight, a modern echo of the welkin ringing.
And we do this because we still want to know that the news is good, that God still comes to us, and that God still loves us through the gift of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. But for the news to be good, it has to be more than just a few moments of carols and candles tonight. We are invited on this Christmas Eve to open our hearts and feel again the ringing of the welkin! And then we are invited to live into that good news, to share that ringing with others, as we love each other with the love given to us in Jesus Christ!
This is our Christmas Story! This is our Christmas Gift! Let us receive this gift again, as we sing the edited version of “Hark! how all the welkin rings” as our confirmation of the greatness and goodness of this news!