Peace on Earth
“Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!'”
You probably recognize those verses. It sounds as if the song describes heralding angels declaring that there will be “peace and mercy on earth and that God and sinners should be reconciled.” Or, it might sound as if they are announcing that the birth of Jesus is a sign of “peace and mercy on earth and the reconciliation of God and sinners.” I don’t mean to split hairs, but while those are perfectly reasonable ways of reading the words, the grammar points in a slightly different direction. The colon after the phrase “newborn King:” indicates that what follows it clarifies what precedes it. In other words, this “newborn King,” namely Jesus, is “peace on earth,” he is “mercy mild,” and he is “God and sinners reconciled.”
Why would that distinction be important? Well, I think for the same reason that children know that “Jesus” is a safe answer to every question the pastor asks during a children’s moment. Jesus is a shorthand way of expressing things for which we have no words. What is peace? Jesus! What is mercy? Jesus! Jesus is the embodiment of 1) a love that makes all things right, 2) life that cannot be overcome by death, 3) justice that overlooks no one, 4) a light in the darkness, 5) hope in the face of total defeat, 6) joyful union with God and neighbor, and on and on.
All of those things listed above are impossible in the world in which we live, where war rages on, love is frequently absent, and justice, when it comes, is often at the cost of justice for the other. Therefore, Jesus embodies the impossible. To bear witness to the reality of this impossible event (Jesus) is a statement of faith for which there is no evidence beyond our own convictions. It is a way of saying (quoting John Haught) I believe that behind all things there exists an “indestructible goodness.”
This kind of nebulous word salad is irritating to those who want something more specific, logical, concrete. I sympathize. Yet, I do not know of anything more concrete than my own enduring sense that, no matter what is going on in the world, God is with us. Every year on Christmas Eve, we remember that the Christ child is born in this place. And when we declare “Glory to the newborn King!” we bear witness to light in the darkness. This is the meaning and purpose of the Christmas story. I look forward to retelling it, once again, in song and Scripture and poetry, as a sign of our faith together.
Pastor Jen
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