Ep 8: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

American pastor Edmund Sears published this poem in 1849, and in 1850 it was set to music by composer Richard Willis. The lyrics tell of the angels’ song to the shepherds near Bethlehem (Luke 2:8–15), and concludes with the lovely thought that one day the whole Earth will sing of Jesus.

While there are several variations on the lyrics, one well-known version (included in our songbook) has the words: ‘And man, at war with man, hears not the love song which they bring/ O, hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing.’

Truth is, it doesn’t have to be something as catastrophic as war to distract us from God. We can ‘hear not’ the angels’ song when we get too preoccupied with work, too caught up in our own interests, too focused on trivial matters, too self-centred.

Do you find it easy to focus on God and ‘hear’ the angels’ song, or are you too easily distracted by earthly matters to give due attention to divine matters?

At times we’re all guilty of going about our business as though we achieve what we do in our own strength rather than in God’s strength. Or maybe we recall God at the last moment – he’s the afterthought – and we thank him for being with us when, in truth, we should have been inviting his presence at the commencement of the day, the exercise or the event.

To ‘hush the noise … and hear the angels sing’ is a real skill these days. Do we dare lay aside our phone or turn off the television or step away from the computer long enough to hear the message God wants to give us today?

Written 150 years ago, Edmund Sears’ poem could have been written yesterday. It’s unusual among carols because it focuses not so much on Bethlehem and the events of Jesus’ birth but on the era in which Sears wrote it, a time marked by war in America and revolution in Europe.

This gives the carol a sense of the contemporary rather than the historic. It warns us of missing the ‘love song’ that Heaven wants to sing to us, not 2,000 years ago but today.

I pray that you will not be so distracted from God that you miss the blessings he wants to give you – today.

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 earth, goodwill to men, 
From Heaven’s all-gracious King! 
The world in solemn stillness lay 
To hear the angels sing.

But with the woes of sin and strife 
The world has suffered long; 
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled 
Two thousand years of wrong. 
And man, at war with man, hears not 
The love song which they bring; 
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, 
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on, 
By prophet bards foretold, 
When with the ever-circling years 
Comes round the age of gold, 
When peace shall over all the earth 
Its ancient splendours fling, 
And the whole world give back the song 
Which now the angels sing.

Edmund Hamilton Sears