First Presbyterian Church
Hymn-Sing, not a Sermon
Sermon for December 25, 2005
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 2:8-15.

8 And shepherds were in that region living outdoors, guarding their flock at night.

9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were afraid.

10 But the angel said to them, "Fear not; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy which will be for all the people:

11 to you is born this day a savior, who is the messiah, Lord, in the city of David.

12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a swaddled baby lying in a manger."

13 And unexpectedly there was with the angel a congregation of the heavenly army, praising God and saying,

14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among people whom God favors!"

15 When they had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem now and see this thing that's happened, which the Lord has made known to us."

Our next hymn is based on this text from Luke. It was first published in 1909 in Natalie Curtis Burlin's The Hampton Series –Negro Folk-Sings. When I looked up the hymn history, I wasn't very excited. Who cares who first published a song in what book with what title? I did a little checking, and now I care.

Natalie Curtis Burlin carried out important studies of African-American and African music and culture. She wrote a letter which has been preserved. In it, she described what happened to her at a convention in Paris in 1921, where she spoke.

She said “Professor Hill said to me, “I intend to say that the reason we haven't any great music in America is because we have no folk music… I suppose you'll say we have?”

“I most certainly will, said I.

He said it was true that there was folk music in America but it was mostly Negro and Indian and therefore wasn't American.

Burlin says “I didn't mean to get into any kind of controversy, but when I sang those songs about the American maize (she meant corn), about the big hot American sun that rides his turquoise horse across our Rocky mountains, those chants that have come out of America itself, the audience was electrified. I spoke of our 12 million Negroes who are good enough Americans to die for American ideals in our wars, our completely loyal and unhyphenated Americans whose blood and brawn have gone into the upbuilding of our whole great South… If these songs that are the very voice of our South are not American, what is! I resented Mr. Hill's everlasting monopoly of the white race, and I resented the notion that only New England with Harvard College as its hub can be American.” 1

Natalie Curtis Burlin recognized the truth and spoke it. She knew important songs when she heard them. Here is one. Please remain seated for hymn #50 “Rise up, Shepherd and Follow.”

As a child, I learned the words Away in the Manger to two different tunes. Last night, we sang it to the tune called CRADLE SONG, #24. If you look in the hymnal, just under the title of the hymn, you'll see the tune name written in all capital letters. CRADLE SONG was written for this text, and it was published in 1895.

The tune we will sing this morning is called MUELLER, hymn #25. It was published and maybe composed by James R. Murray. It is often attributed to Martin Luther, because in a hymnbook Murray published, the heading of the song read “Luther's Cradle Hymn, composed by Martin Luther for his children, and still sung by German mothers to their little ones.” But the tune doesn't resemble Luther's musical style at all, and the song is in English, not German. Luther died in 1546, and the first 2 stanzas of Away in the Manger were first published in 1885 in a Lutheran children's book. The third stanza wasn't published until 1892, which accounts for it being so different from the first two verses. The first verses are based on Luke 2:7.

And she gave birth to a son, her firstborn and swaddled him, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room.

Please remain seated for “Away in a Manger.”

(We prayed and then sang Hymn #53 “What Child is this”).

According to a legend, the Dominican mystic Henry Suso heard this carol in a dream one night when angels came to dance for him. Their words were half in Latin and half in upper German dialect. Upon hearing their singings, Suso joined in the dance and wrote down the carol when he awoke. I don't know how factual that legend is. But the words and music are very old, from the fourteenth century.

But it is true that on September 14, 1745, this hymn was sung at a Moravian mission in what is now Bethlehem Pennsylvania, in 13 languages at once, including Bohemian, Dutch, Greek, Latin, and Mohawk.

Many of you remember the next hymn as “Good Christian Men Rejoice.” ‘Men' was changed to ‘friends' in 1978 in the Lutheran Book of Worship. Other denominations followed suit. Please rise as you are able for Hymn #28 “Good Christians Friends, Rejoice.”

During wartime, God offers king Ahaz a sign, and the king refuses to be reassured. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Isaiah 7:14.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

Within the time it takes for that child to grow old enough to eat curds and honey, the king's empire will no longer be threatened. Matthew uses this same text, reinterpreting it to speak about Jesus. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Matthew 1:23.

"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."

When minister Phillips Brooks was on a sabbatical from Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, he spent part of it in Palestine. He rode to Bethlehem on horseback for Christmas eve in 1865. That was the year that had seen the end of the Civil War and the assassination of a president. This experience may have inspired him in writing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. “Brooks' longing for peace found expression as he pondered the ‘everlasting light' that had shone in Bethlehem's ‘dark streets.' The name Emmanuel ‘God with us' is found in both testaments. God has come to be with us in Bethlehem and Baker City. Please remain seated for hymn #44 “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Please turn to page 551 in your pew Bibles, so we can say Psalm 98 together. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Psalm 98.

A Psalm. O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory.

2 The LORD has made known his victory; he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.

6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.

7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.

8 Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy

9 at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

Isaac Watts could have gone to Oxford, but he didn't because he would have had to become Anglican. So he went to the nonconformist academy at Stoke Newington. Watts was one of the first English Christians to think of hymns as human offerings to God, which meant that hymns did not need to come directly from the Bible—they could be composed by ordinary human beings, using modern English. Isaac Watts did write hymns based on the psalms also. “Joy to the World” is one of them.” He wrote this hymn as an interpretation of Psalm 98. Please rise as you are able for hymn #40 “Joy to the World.”

www1.nataliecurtis.org/sources/srcncbparisltr.html