“Angels We Have Heard on High”

Wednesday, December 23, 2013

Angels we have heard on high,

Sweetly singing o’er the plains,

And the mountains in reply,

Echoing their joyous strains. 

Chorus:

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Gloria in excelsis Deo 

Shepherds why this jubilee?

Why your joyous strains prolong?

Say what may the tidings be,

Which inspire your heav’nly song 

Chorus 

            Singing the words to “Angels We Have Heard on High” last Sunday all together at the front of the church after the congregational photograph was taken brought tears to my eyes.  What a glorious expression of the Christmas spirit this carol is!  Its words are powerful; its tune captivating.  As Laurie opened the windows of the sanctuary so that our singing could be heard outside, I was overcome with the feeling that, yes, this is a song and a message that the world needs to hear.  Not just a story of peace and justice, which we tend to focus on, but also a remembrance of that day when the host of heaven’s angels as well as the shepherds (embracing both heavenly as well as earthly beings) sang of the glorious thing that God had done in sending the Savior to us.  It was such a tender moment, and my heart and soul were deeply touched.

            Portions of this song were first sung at least 1700 years ago by monks in early church services even before the Roman emperor Constantine the Great had made Christianity the state religion.  The chorus goes back even earlier in time to when Pope Telesphorus in 130 CE decreed that it be should always be used in certain parts of the worship services.  Perhaps it could even have been written by someone who walked and talked with Jesus himself.  (Now, here I expound upon a “fanciful myth!”)  However, “Angels We Have Heard on High” wasn’t published until 1855.  Because when it first appeared it was written in French, people assumed that it was written in that country.  It was then that today’s tune was first attached to this song.

            This carol expresses the joy that the angels and shepherds felt at the birth of Jesus, and last Sunday we, too, experienced that glorious joy of the Christmas season.  Perhaps the angels and the shepherds sang along with us, too.

Come to Bethlehem and see

Him whose birth the angels sing;

Come, adore on bended knee

Christ the Lord, the newborn King.

Chorus 

See within a manger laid,

Jesus, Lord of heav’n and earth!

Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,

With us sing our Savior’s birth. 

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.