Songs of Advent: Gloria
Midweek Advent 2011 Luke 2:14 J.D.Roekle
Dear Friends in Christ,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
An old pioneer traveled westward across the Great Plains until he came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He gawked at the sight before him. He saw a vast chasm one mile down, eighteen miles across, and more than a hundred miles long. He gasped: “Something musta happened here!”
A visitor to our world at this time of year might say the same thing. The lights, the wreaths, the trees, the parades, the decorations in stores and homes alike, the special cookies, candy, and eggnog, the special festivities and the special worship services,… they all point to the fact that something musta happened here.
And indeed something did happen here over 2000 years ago. The Savior of the world was born! Since Jesus Christ has come into the world, countless songs, hymns and carols have been written to honor him, and are still being written.
In Old Testament times, the birth of the Messiah was greatly anticipated. So much so, that when Jesus was just about to be born, we see some of the key players, such as Mary and Zechariah bursting out in song. Today we look at one of these “Advent Songs.” Today we want to examine the song of the angels: The Gloria in Excelsis.
Martin Luther once wrote that the Gloria Excelsis “did not grow, nor was it made, but it came from heaven.” That makes it a pretty special song! Here is a song that does not have a human author. The song literally comes from heaven because it comes from the angels of God. What a gift that God would give us this special song so that we could praise him!
This song is one that celebrates the great news that the angels delivered to the shepherds: “A Savior has been born to you!”
Why would the angels be excited to deliver this news? After all, the angels who delivered the news were perfect; they did not sin. Therefore they had no need for a Savior.
But those angels still had good reason to praise God. After all, it was God who had created them in the first place. It was God who gave them such important roles as his perfect messengers and guardians. In all this, the angels knew the love of God for them and for all creation.
And as such, the angels understand how special human beings are to God. They know that people are the crown of God’s creation. They also know what happened to the human race from the beginning of time. The angels experienced war in heaven with other angels who turned away from God. They understand that it was these fallen angels who had a devastating effect on the world. It was the leader of these fallen angels, Satan, who introduced sin into the world to Adam and Eve. Because of that, the entire world and every human being have been affected by sin and its terrible eternal consequences.
And the angels rejoice that God did not abandon people. They praise God that he would stoop down and come into this world to rescue us. The angels are so enamored with God and his works that Peter writes (I, 1:12) that “angels long to look into these things.”
As they do, they also take time to lift their praises to God. “Glory to God in the highest!” they sang to the shepherds. An army of angels – more than could be counted – honored God with their voices.
There was so much reason to honor God; to praise him; to give glory to God! And the reason the angels were exulting God at this point comes in the second part of the song: “and on earth peace to me on whom his favor rests.”
A restaurant advertised that it would be open on Christmas Day. The advertisement went on to say that in keeping with the true meaning of Christmas, they were going to feed the poor and homeless a Christmas dinner. No doubt that is a generous gesture, but to say that it is the true meaning of Christmas is missing the whole point of Christmas.
Jesus did not come to feed the world. Christ Jesus came to give peace to the world. Peace. What kind of peace? Peace from wars? Peace from the threat of terrorism? Peace from nagging health issues? Peace among family members?
Jesus didn’t make any promises of any of those kinds of peace on earth. In fact, Jesus spoke against those ideas of peace when he said (Matt. 10:34-36): “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”
It is safe to say that as long as we are alive and as long as the world is around, the world won’t see peace between all nations and peace between all people.
But the announcement of peace on earth is a different peace. It is the peace that world needs more than any other. It is a peace between us and God.
Earlier we talked briefly about the introduction of sin into the world by the devil to Adam and Eve. At first glance, Adam and Eve’s disobedience may have seemed like a minor blip on the screen. But what it did was to break the perfect harmony that existed between people and God. Their sin had set Adam and Eve up as enemies of God. And their sin has been passed on to every generation since.
God saw what was happening and acted quickly, and in making the first promise that peace would be restored, God told Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.”
So how was that peace achieved? The hymn writer explains:
“Peace came to earth at last that chosen night
When angels clove the sky with song and light
And God embodied love and sheathed his might –
Who could by gasp: Immanuel!
Who could but sing: Immanuel!
Peace came to earth on that first Christmas as God himself left his throne and became a baby. God himself came down to go to work to forgive us, so that our relationship with him would be restored. So that we would no longer be his enemies. So that we could have peace!
Think about what that means for you on a day to day basis. At the beginning of worship, we confess our sins. We do it in such a general way, that sometimes we may overlook the depth of how our sins have affected us and others.
Whenever you have opportunity, identify those sins. Come before God and confess: Lord, I have sinned against my friend, by betraying his confidence and posting it on Facebook or through email so that he would look bad. Lord, I have sinned by not treating my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. I have not been leading a chaste and decent life. Lord, I am guilty of despising your Word since I don’t open my Bible often and I give every excuse possible to avoid worshipping you. Lord, I have led others into temptation and down the wrong path at times by my poor example. Lord, in doing these things, I have pitted myself against you.
When you have been honest with yourself about your sins, then be reminded of the song of the angels: the Gloria in Excelsis. Remember the proclamation of peace that is yours because God cared enough about you to send his Son into the world to wipe out your sins with his perfect life and innocent death. Consequences for certain sins may go on in this world, but having peace with God through Jesus means that those consequences won’t last into eternity.
We hear songs and people talking constantly about how this time of year is a time of peace. And yet, our lives don’t show it. This time of year turns out to be about the most hectic time of the year. We rush around trying to get all our preparations done. We get immersed in the commercialism of the season. In so doing, we wear ourselves thin. And we do all those things in the guise of preparing ourselves for Christmas.
To truly prepare yourselves, listen again to the Advent song of the angels. During this special season remember the extraordinary thing that happened: peace between us and God was promised and peace was delivered through Jesus Christ. And look forward also to the time when this one who came down as a helpless infant will return to earth in order to deliver us to perfect peace with him. Amen.
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