Lindstrom, Erling G.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 6 | Issue 3 Article 47-1-1980A Christmas hymn by Martin LutherErling G. LindstromFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Articles is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationLindstrom, Erling G. (1980) "A Christmas hymn by Martin Luther," Consensus: Vol. 6 : Iss. 3 , Article 4.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol6/iss3/4A CHRISTMAS HYMN BY MARTIN LUTHERErling LindstromLuther’s Christmas hymn, “From Heaven Above,” is sometimes interpreted as aChristmas pageant for church or home. Bainton wrote, “The carol is designed for achildren’s pageant in the church. Before the altar is placed a cradle with the Babe.On either side kneel Mary and Joseph. From the choir a chorister takes the part ofthe angel and makes the announcement.”’ In Bainton’s interpretation, the shep-herds and children respond to the announcement and join the manger scene atverse six.Whether Luther intended the hymn as a pageant or not, it readily divides intoparts for different participants and can be sung by a congregation in that way. Thetranslation prepared for the Lutheran Book of Worship (No. 51) includes fourteenof the fifteen verses written by Luther, a large increase over the five that was in theService Book and Hi^mnal. Having nearly all of the original verses in the hymnalmakes it easier to see where participant changes take place.The first five verses of the hymn are sung by the angel who announces the goodnews of Jesus’ birth. In stanza one, the angel immediately says he has somethinggood to tell:From heaven above to earth I comeTo bring good news to every one.Glad tidings of great joy I bringTo all the world and gladly sing.Leupold indicates the first verse of this hymn was patterned after a folk song usedin a singing game popular in Luther’s time. The song used in the game began.Good news from far abroad I bring.Glad tidings for you all I sing.I bring so much you’d like to know.Much more than I shall tell you though.After singing this verse, the traveller would tell a riddle to one of the girls. According1. Roland Bainton, The Martin Luther Christmas Book (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1948),p. 13.2930 Consensusto the game she would have to solve the riddle or give her wreath to him. At firstLuther’s hymn was sung to the folk tune and was published with that music in 1535;four years later it was published with the music to which we now sing it.^The adaptation of a folk song for part of this hymn is suggestive for the range ofmaterial that can be developed into hymns. In the preface to an earlier hymn book-let, Luther had written, “I would gladly see all arts, especially music, in the serviceof him who has given and created them.”^ This is a way of working redemptively;materials at hand are revised and used for the praise of God. Having observed thisdevelopment from a popular song, there is also an important difference between thefolk song and the first verse of Luther’s hymn. In the game the singer is secretiveabout his message and doles it out sparingly:I bring so much you’d like to know.Much more than I shall tell you though.By contrast the angel in the hymn is bursting to tell his news forthwith:Glad tidings of great joy I bringTo all the world, and gladly sing.The angel’s news is announced in verse two:To you this night is born a childOf Mary chosen virgin mild;This new-born child of lowly birthShall be the joy of all the earth.These words draw our thoughts to the announcement of the angel to the shepherdsnear Bethlehem. Like that first announcement, this one is given to a group of ordin-ary people but is intended for the whole world. The last part of this verse leads us tothe paradox of the Christian message; the child in the manger is the Lord of all. Ex-pressed in other words in verse four.The blessing which the Father plannedThe Son holds in his infant hand.The angel concludes his announcement by telling where the hearers can see thechild. This again parallels the account in Luke where the angel concludes, “And thiswill be a sign to you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in amanger” (Luke 2:12). In a congregation where the hymn is being sung by differentparticipants, the news given by the angel may be assigned to the choir.The next set of stanzas, six through thirteen, carry the response of the hearers tothe angel’s message. The shift in participants between verses fiv&and six is obvious.The angel has just indicated the child can be found in a manger-bed. To this newsthe people immediately respond.How glad we’ll be to find it so!Then with the shepherds let us goTo see what God for us has doneIn sending us his own dear Son.The people are responding as had the shepherds who said, “Let us go over to Beth-2. Luther’s Works, Volume 53, American Edition (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1965), p, 289.3. Oskar Thilin, /\ Life of Luther (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966), p. 91.A Christmas Hymn 31lehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known tous” (Luke 2:15). The people carry out their intention of going to the manger andthe next verse finds them exclaiming over the child:Look, look, dear friends, look over there!What lies within that manger bare?Who is that lovely little one?The baby Jesus, God’s dear §on.It is interesting that Luther’s hymn, which has followed the text of the secondchapter of Luke closely thus far, now stops following the Lukan account and focus-es on the child. Where the shepherds in Luke found “Mary and Joseph, and thebabe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16), the people in Luther’s hymn find only thechild. Where the shepherds returned home and made known the news, the peoplein Luther’s hymn remain before the child and ponder the meaning of his arrival;they depart only at the end to join the heavenly chorus in song. Since Christ wasthe centre of everything for Luther, the long pause at the manger is what we mightexpect of him. In the flow of the hymn, the discovery of the child is followed direct-ly by his being welcomed to earth. In singing this part of the response of the hearers,the trip to the manger, verse six, may be sung by the congregation; the pulpit sidethen exclaims over the discovery, verse seven; and the lectern side welcomes theguest, verse eight.The manger scene now takes a reflective turn; those present wonder how theLord of all could be a baby in a manger. This section alternates between declaringthe worth of the child and the unworthiness of the earth to receive him. Verse nineopens with wonder,O Lord you have created all!How did you get to be so small?In view of Jesus’ role with God in creation, the earth is indeed a poor place for him.Accordingly verse ten reads like a confession:Were earth a thousand times as fairAnd set with gold and jewels rare.Still such a cradle would not doTo rock a prince so great as you.Verse eleven continues to contrast Jesus’ lowly estate with the riches that are right-fully his. The contrast is a way of stating the good news of the gospel; Jesus cameinto the world not because the world was the best place for him but because theworld needed him. “God so loved the world that he gave his only son.” Again,“God sent his son into the world . . . that the world might be saved through him”(John 3:16-17). The congregation reflects on the Lord in the manger as it singsverses nine through eleven.Reflection on the lowly circumstances of the Lord of all leads the hearers to invitehim into their lives:O dearest Jesus, holy child.Prepare a bed, soft undefiled,A holy shrine, within my heart.That you and I need never part.The invitation results in a new joyful state and a desire to join the angels in sing-32 Consensusing praise to the little Lord.My heart for very joy now leaps;My voice no longer silence keeps;I too must join the angel-throngTo sing with joy his cradle-song.We recognize in these verses a familiar pattern of Christian experience. OfferingGod’s Son a place in our hearts leads to joyful participation in announcing the newsof his arrival. The personal invitation to Jesus and its joyful result, verses twelve andthirteen, conclude the response of the hearers to the angel’s news.The last stanza takes us back to the announcement heard by the shepherds nearBethlehem. The first half of the verse nearly quotes the angel’s song in Luke; close-ness to the Scripture text probably explains why these lines are in quotation marksin our worship book. After the exalted “Glory to God in highest heav’n,” the hymnends on a lighter note as if to say, “Do not get too serious now, this is a season ofgood news, a time to be joyful.” Luther must have had a twinkle in his eye when headded a new year greeting to the last line of this hymn:With angels sing in pious mirth:A glad new year to all the earth.The Gloria and the greeting may be sung by the congregation and choir together.

A Christmas hymn by Martin Luther

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A Christmas hymn by Martin Luther

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