Category: News

Hark How all The Welken Rings

By Ray Sutton via Forward in Christ:

One of the best loved Christmas Carols is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Rightfully so. Charles Wesley, brother to the great Anglican evangelist, John Wesley, wrote the original lyrics in 1739. It’s a classic, even though adapted from its initial version. I still sing it with joy every Christmas, realizing the meaning of the original opening line.
 
A little-known fact is that Wesley’s version of the first sentence of the carol was actually, Hark How all the Welken Rings. The word welken is Middle English for heavens. The version altered and eventually handed down to us was modified in 1758 by George Whitefield. He was the Calvinist associate of the Wesleys, another Anglican evangelist. He changed the first line to, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
 
The difference from heavens to angels on the face of it may seem insignificant. In reality the change loses the full force of not only the original biblical scene, but Wesley’s interpretation of it. Nothing against angels; they were indeed there gloriously singing the Gloria in Excelsis. The shift in language, nevertheless, loses something of the enormous cosmic and sacramental elements of the birth of Jesus Christ. For starters, heavens is more than the angels involved in the Incarnation.
 
To understand the dynamic difference of terminology, we should first consider the biblical passage on which the carol is based. The combination of the text and the theology of it, clarifies to whom and to what are the clouds of the heavens where angels dwell. The text is St. Luke’s account of the visitation of the Angel of the Lord to the shepherds in the field. 
 
The verses say that when the angel appeared, “the glory of the Lord shone around them,” a multitude of the heavenly host” joined him “praising God,” and they sang The Song of the Angels, as it’s also called. When the heavenly chorus stopped, St. Luke records that the angels “went away from them into heaven” (Luke 2:9). Yet he does not say that this heaven left them. It remained open releasing a series of miracles. 
 
A mysterious star appears, descends over the place of Christ’s birth, and leads kings from the east to the Christ Child. An evil king is thwarted. The Son of God is born in a manger amidst animals. The place of feeding became the food of the world. All of creation ends up beckoned into service of the Incarnation. This is the point of Wesley’s use of heavens and not only the angels. Whatever these heavens of heavens were and are, as the Ancient Church referred to them, much more was occurring than only singing angels.
 
If one reads the passage of Luke 2 observantly, the heavens that opened unveiled the glory of God. This was not simply the heaven as we know it by the term, sky. It was more. Rather, this heaven is what Wesley means when he says in first line of the second stanza, “Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord.” At the same time, that which we know as sky to the naked eye was apparently enveloped by the highest heaven. The implications are much more cosmic and sacramental with the word welken as Wesley conveys in his carol. 
 
First, let’s understand what the Scriptures mean when referring to the highest heaven. It is what the Bible calls the glory cloud of God. It is the glory space around the throne of the Triune God. Hence, when this highest heaven opened to the shepherds, we’re told and the angel of the Lord appeared, and more importantly, “glory shown all around.” Clearly this is the heaven to which Wesley refers in his carol when he says, “Christ by highest heaven adored.” 
 
Elsewhere in Scripture, this glory cloud is described in much the same way. A cloud of glory led Israel. It was just any cloud. It appeared as a cloud by day and fire by night. Eventually it came surrounded the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Angels were in this cloud. Cherubim stood at the four corners of the mercy seat extending their wings to form a canopy over it. 
 
Ezekiel saw into the same glory cloud with considerable detail provided, as recorded in the first chapter of his prophetic book. On the inside, Ezekiel observed a throne, a sea of glass, myriads of angels, and the same massive cherubim with faces of an ox, a human, a lion and an eagle. Their wings canopied altar throne on which the Lord God Almighty sat (Ezekiel 1). The fiery light of His presence penetrated the whole glory throne room. 
 
Isaiah the Prophet is also ushered into the highest heavens, resulting in his getting low and declaring, “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Isaiah 6). St. John is also allowed to see and even enter into the same glory cloud. Not surprisingly he records identical phenomena presenting continuity between the heavenly worship of the Old and New Testaments. St. John even witnesses all the company of heaven bowing before God and saying exactly what Isaiah heard.
 
From the outside looking in, the glory cloud as described by Ezekiel and John, as well as other places in Scripture, is like an enormous raging cloud. This is why the Israelites saw what led them as a cloud by day and a fire by night. Elijah hid from this glory cloud in the cleft of a rock as it passed by him in the form of a storm, from which the Living God spoke to him. It is cosmic of enormous proportions. When it appears, it swallows up earthly sky as we know it.
 
To be even more biblically precise, the glory cloud is not an inanimate object. It is personal as in the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Third Person of the Godhead throughout the Scriptures is actually the One who creates the glory space around the Living God seated on the altar throne. For this reason in the Old Testament He is called the Shekinah Glory. His fiery presence creates the glory of God. At Pentecost He births the Church where we’re told a great cloud filled the Temple. It is this very glory cloud that fills the Temple. The same the highest heaven opens upon the Apostles (Acts 2). 
 
Wesley captures this presence of the Person of the Holy Spirit in welken in the second stanza of his carol. He says, “Light and Life to All he brings, Ris’n with Healing in his Wings.” Whose wings would these be? 
 
They are the wings of the loving Dove of Heaven, the Holy Spirit, descending in the glorious cloud surrounding the shepherds to bring healing to the earth. The Holy Spirit surrounded the angels and all the shepherds that birth night. He came with the birth of Jesus Christ. Indeed, it is the wings of His presence that convey the glory of God shinning all around. More than simply the angels were present, and much more was happening than their singing, on that sacred birth night. Hence the word welken!
 
Second, with a more complete understanding of what was happening biblically and theologically when glory shone around the shepherds, we can begin to grasp the cosmic and sacramental effects of the Incarnation. This is what Wesley’s great hymn is about. Again, Wesley’s original version helps us to grasp this emphasis. 
 
In the second half of the first stanza of Wesley’s lyrics we find the words: “Joyful all ye Nations rise, Join the Triumph of the Skies, Universal Nature say, ‘CHRIST the LORD is born to Day!’” It’s true that Whitefield’s version says, “Joyful all ye Nations rise, Join the Triumphs of the Skies; Nature rise and worship him, Who is born at Bethlehem.” 
 
Whitefield could not escape the complete force of Wesley’s powerful insight. He says, “Nature rise and worship Him.” His version, however, does not entirely capture the sacramental implication of the cosmic reality of the highest heavens opening around the shepherds. Yes, all of creation worships the newborn Christ. There is so much more, however, in Wesley’s version. 
 
We find in his language, “Universal Nature says, ‘Christ the Lord is born this Day!’” That is, creation in some sense speaks. Heaven is swallowed up by the highest heaven, the glory cloud of God. All of creation is sacramentally restored by the coming of Jesus Christ to be what it was originally intended.
 
God initially made the created world to convey the spiritual, His presence. In the pages of the creation account in Genesis, God did not simply create a symbolic, physical world and then leave it run in some Deistic sense. Rather, God was really present in, with and through His creation. A Tree of Life was there with His presence such that to partake of it would have given eternal life. Then too, God walked in the garden. 
 
No doubt after the fall of humanity, some sense of God’s presence was lost from the earth. Yet even St. Paul tells the early Church at Rome that all of creation is revelational. It so bears the fingerprints of God that even the Doctrine of the Divine Trinity is embedded in the natural order (Romans 1:11ff.). He goes on to explain that so powerful is God’s presence with nature that humans worship the creation instead of the Creator. The two are not to be confused even though one is conveyed by the other. 
 
Nevertheless, the reality of God’s presence in the natural order was always intended to be there. Heaven participates in earth and vice versa. It is this heavenly participation between the highest heavens and shepherd’s fields that is restored at the Incarnation. In the words of Wesley, “Universal nature say, ‘Christ is born this Day!’”
 
Through the Incarnation, God once again used the physical to convey the spiritual. The world and its sky was overcome by the highest heavens. To begin with, Mary the Blessed Mother had already become Theotokos, God-Bearer. The highest heaven had opened to her. God became the physical, Man. He was born of this Holy Virgin when heaven opened again. 
 
Furthermore, the highest heaven would continue to be opened as a result of the Incarnation. At Jesus’s baptism the waters of the earth were re-valorized to be used in a sacred way. His baptism is remarkably similar to His birth. 
 
At this event, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove on Jesus (Luke 2:21). Is it any wonder that Jesus would later associate birth with baptism and a new birth! Thus, the Ancient Church emphasized the highest heaven opens at Holy Baptism, replicating Incarnational birth, only it’s the second birth for the one receiving it. With consecrated water, the baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity are really incorporated into Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 6). 
 
Then too, the creation is used to feed the People of God in the New Covenant. When Bread and Wine are consecrated, they mystically become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. As He Himself declared over Bread and Wine at the Last Supper with those immortal words, “This is My Body; This is My Blood!” (Matthew 26). In short, in and by the Incarnation heaven really participates in earth and vice versa once again. The physical conveys the spiritual that it was originally intended to do. “Universal nature says, ‘Christ is born today!’”
 
Sadly, the later version of Wesley’s powerful carol based on Whitefield’s alteration, comes down to us today. The sacramentality of creation is somewhat denuded, though not completely. The version most of us know says, “Join the triumph of the skies, With the angelic host proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem.’” There is indeed a triumph of skies which we commemorate at Christ’s Mass, Christmas. We can still enjoy this great carol. Perhaps though, we can now read those words, “Join the triumph of the skies,” with a fuller comprehension of what Wesley intended. 
 
Even more, we can sing with joy the rest of Wesley’s great carol: “Mild he lays his Glory by, Born—that Man no more may die, Born—to raise the Sons of Earth, Born—to give them Second Birth”! So sacramental is the opening of the highest heavens at the Incarnation, the collect for Christmas Day via the celebration of Christ’s birth calls us back to our second birth in Holy Baptism:
 
Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
 
May the welken ring anew for all of us this Christmas!
 
 

Rebuilding the Church

FORWARD IN FAITH presents “Rebuilding the Church in Difficult Times” on Saturday, Jan. 11, at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Fort Worth. The event begins with Holy Eucharist at 11 a.m. The presentation, based on events in the Old Testament books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah, follows at 11:30 a.m.

Holy Apostles is situated at 3900 Longvue Ave., Fort Worth, TX 76126. For further information about this free event, please call 817.560.7187 or email hapostles@swbell.net

This parish seminar is part of a series of events organized by Forward in Faith and the Benedictines of Christ the King.

Epiphany

By Michael Heidt:

We celebrated the great Feast of the Epiphany yesterday and with it looked to the Magi, the Wise Men, who in turn pointed us to Christ and revealed his nature in their gifts. Gold for kingship, frankincense for divinity and myrrh for embalming and death.

An epiphany, the Christ child is our divine king whose throne is the cross. But what of the Magi themselves?  They were astronomers who followed a star, and some argue this was a supernova, a conjunction of planets or something else again, a miraculous event.

Perhaps it was all of these, but the Wise Men were more than  astral calculators, they were wise, they looked for the truth and they found it, Incarnate, lying in a manger. So the Magi themselves are an epiphany. Pope Benedict XVI explains:

“They were “wise.” They represent the inner dynamic of religion toward self-transcendence, which involves a search for truth, a search for the true God and hence ‘philosophy’ in the original sense of the word. Wisdom, then, serves to purify the message of ‘science’: the rationality of that message does not remain at the level of intellectual knowledge, but seeks understanding in its fullness, and so raises reason to its loftiest possibilities.”

Loftiest possibilities? Heaven itself and the throne of glory, all to be found in the baby lying under a star in a manger.

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

So How Long is Christmas?

By Bishop Keith Ackerman

I think it should not surprise us that in spite of the fact that the Christian Calendar (Kalendar) has a much longer history than the evolving, innovative Secular American Calendar, the Secular Calendar is winning. In fact, not only is it winning in the “secular world” (a redundant phrase) it is winning in Christian Churches with little sense of historicity who have eliminated the Calendar of the Church and replaced it with the “Christian Light” Calendar: Christmas (which has 12 days before December 25), Easter (which includes Good Friday) and Mother’s Day. While one might argue as to what is right or wrong, the reality is that most modern denominations and so-called “Bible Churches or “Non-denominational Churches” have eliminated virtually all Christian Feast Days. 

In areas where these types of churches predominate, we should not be surprised when our own people seem to be surprised to learn or remember the Traditional Festivals or Feast Days of the Church. Sadly, whenever Feast Days are eliminated along with the Liturgical Seasons, we are met with a cultureless Christianity.

Unfortunately, this means that secular “holidays” have replaced religious holidays or religious holidays become secularist versions of what they were instituted to be. Religious sociologists have coined the phrase “civil religion” which in our context means that when the Church drops festivals and holy days, the culture establishes something to fill the void. I will not burden you with “Christmas Break” and “Easter Break” versus “Winter Break” and “Spring Break.”

So… how long is Christmas? The Secular world, which has dragged some modern churches with them, seems to have Christmas begin either right before or right after Thanksgiving. There is no opportunity to focus on savoring the taste of the Thanksgiving meal, and enjoy family – because a new secular feast is celebrated the day after Thanksgiving, called “Black Friday.” It’s Christmas everywhere. On one hand, not unlike the birth of all children, we do spend the last month making preparations for the birth – it’s just that the expectant mother is not really up to celebrating parties that month.  She is much too busy for the event – called “the birth.” Traditional Christians call that last month preparing for the Birth of the Baby Jesus – “Advent.” It is after the birth that friends and family come to celebrate the birth of the child.

Sadly, for many who see the secular calendar as “official,” including modern churches, on the day after Christmas Day – it’s over! For traditional Christians, it has just begun, and for at least Twelve Day it continues, with Holy Days (holidays) almost every day. Traditional Churches follow the Biblical pattern: Jesus is born, Jesus is circumcised and named on the 8th Day (January 1) and the Wise Men (sometimes called Kings) arrive bearing their gifts on January 6 – the Feast of the Epiphany.

Of course, “enlightened people” will tell us that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25 and that the Wise Men took years to complete their trek, but that type of person apparently does not understand the difference between observing important events versus writing a substantial paper regarding historicity.

If one were to take that reasoning to a conclusion, then we should only celebrate Christmas every 33 years. Likewise, Good Friday and Easter – every 33 years, since most historians believe that Jesus’ birth, death and Resurrection took place within a 33-year period. It would be like saying that there is only one birthday for us – the day we were born, that every year we celebrate the anniversary of our birth and that we should NEVER celebrate that day except on the precise day at the precise time. Many people do not enjoy birthday parties at 2 A.M. but generally speaking, babies and parents do not always have a consultation before birth about the most convenient time for the mother. Moreover the “enlightened people” who are convinced that they have the inside track on Biblical generally offer no alternatives for observing these Biblical Feasts at the “historically correct” time.

So… is January 6 – or its Eve (Sundown on January 5) the last day of Christmas? Yes and No. Certainly the Twelve Days are the traditional days of the Christmas Season, and technically most Traditional Christians do not take ANY decorations down until the Epiphany – but, forty days after Christmas Day – again observed by traditional Christians – it is the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which involves the Blessing of the Candles to be used that year in churches, as we sing the Song of Blessed Simeon, “To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the Glory of thy people Israel.”

Indeed – Epiphany proclaims by virtue of the Adoration of the Magi who are from Gentile lands, that this Messiah, awaited for by the Jews for centuries, is for ALL people – Jews and Gentiles, and on February 2, St. Simeon once again proclaims that reality. Ironically, many Americans who trace their heritage from Spain or a number of Hispanic countries have a cake served on Epiphany. In the cake is placed a Nino (baby figure) and the “winner” who finds the Christ Child in his or her piece of cake must now make and serve Tamales on February 2 – yes, the Feast day mentioned above. 

So… how long is Christmas? Well, in one sense all year- since every Mass that is celebrated is a “Christ” Mass and the Incarnation is a present reality in the life of the Christian and the Church. In another sense, it is Twelve days long, and in yet another sense it is 40 Days long. But by then it is time for St. Valentine’s Day (no, this saint did not shoot arrows at peoples’ hearts) and St. Patrick’s Day (no, he did not drink green beer). But there it is.

We Christians have a choice – simply to go with the flow – do what the crowd does – or claim and reclaim our heritage. After all, there is no law that mandates either (St.) Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day, so maybe it is Hallmark which determines what is and what isn’t a Feast Day? Can we take a day off from school or work because “I’m tired” but would never take a day off for Good Friday? In the end the questions is – did “they” take our Christian Calendar away or did “we” simply allow it to be taken? The same principle can apply in terms of our Faith. If attending a church on Sunday were suddenly “against the law” as it is and has been in several countries, would attendance decline in adherence to the law or would it increase because “no one is going to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

If Christians were more firm in their Faith, much of the above would never have had to be written because all of the aforementioned observances would have continued since “it is what we always have done at all times and in all places” for over two thousand years.