Look to the end of the age this Christmas!

Emma and I recently attended a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at the Groton School. I left with great thankfulness that we had gone and a whole swirl of thoughts about worship, church, music, and Christmas.

One strand of my thinking was this: the celebration of Christmas is richest and fullest when reflection on Jesus’ first coming fuels anticipation and longing for his second coming.

What really struck me was that those who designed the Festival of Lessons and Carols directed us again and again to the second coming of Jesus. I can only believe this was intentional – it was so pervasive in the program that it has to have been a considered judgment rather than an accident.

Here are some examples from the program:

We began by singing ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ (which has instantly become one of my top three Christmas songs). Here are some excerpts focusing on the end of the age and Jesus’ second coming: ‘And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love…and he leads his children on, to the place where he is gone…Not in that poor lowly stable with the oxen standing by, we shall see him; but in heaven, set at God’s right hand on high; when like stars his children crowned, all in white shall wait around.’

In the opening prayer, the chaplain prayed for all those who have died in Christ and are already in heaven. And then he blessed us with these words: ‘God, the Son of God, vouchsafe to bless and aid us; and unto the fellowship of the citizens above may the king of angels bring us all; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.’

We sang another great Christmas song called ‘Of the Father’s Love Begotten,’ the words of which were written by Prudentius, who lived from 348 – 410 AD. We sang that Jesus ‘is the Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he; of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see.’ Jesus is called the Alpha and Omega in the next song the choir sang (‘Unto us is born a Son’) and one of the verses in that song reads: ‘Of his love and mercy mild, this the Christmas story; And O that Mary’s gentle child might lead us up to glory.’

The final verse of ‘It came upon a midnight clear’ is nothing more nor less than a vision of the end of history: ‘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 splendors fling, And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.’

What’s my point with all this?

Simply that a Christmas celebration barren of reflection on the second coming is sadly inadequate. It’s much easier to become sentimental and maudlin about the sweet baby in the hay if you’re not holding before your mind that this little baby is coming again in power and glory to judge the earth and vindicate his people. Moreover, the story is a tragedy if it ends with the baby boy and his eventual execution by Roman soldiers. But it is a triumph when the first coming is viewed in light of the second coming.

So, my exhortation for you is: look to the end of the age this Christmas!

Posted by Stephen Witmer on Dec 12, 02:26 PM