Scripture
Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel,
you have come to your people and set them free.
You have raised up for us a mighty Savior,
born of the house of your servant David.
Through your holy prophets you promised of old,
to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our forbears,
and to remember your holy covenant.
This was the oath you swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship you without fear,
holy and righteous before you,
all the days of our life.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,
to give God’s people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine upon those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. ~Luke 1:68-79
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from [Christ’s] glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation,
for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross. ~Colossians 1:11-20
Meditation
Do you have a favorite hymn? Tell me some of your favorites—fee free to call them out. Do you remember when you first heard it? Can you articulate why it is your favorite? Is it the music? Is it the words?
Some of my earliest memories of church are about the music. When I was a child we had a lot of guitar music in church, so as soon as I learned how to play guitar, I figured out how to sing some of those songs and accompany myself singing. One of my favorites was “Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call…” It was a gentle, melancholy sort of song, one I think I related to. It was about loneliness, but it was also about God’s love being present for us in that loneliness. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was based on a psalm. And so, through the words and music of that hymn, I began to learn about God. I began to learn a little scripture. The music we hear in church is important. Whether we start coming as little children or find our way here in adulthood, the music and lyrics we sing in church serves as a foundation for what we believe.
Years ago, when my daughter was just weeks old, a literal babe-in-arms, we were in church together. The choir sang an anthem based on “The King of Love My Shepherd Is.” I have always loved that hymn, a setting of Psalm 23. I am so moved by the words—
The King of Love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine forever.
The music of this anthem-setting was particularly beautiful. At one really lovely part, when the choir’s voices blended and ascended, Joan, who I’d thought was asleep in my arms, lifted her head and turned it towards the front of the church, looking for the source of the music. Right then and there, church music started to have its effect on my daughter. It’s a precious memory.
There are hymns all throughout scripture. I’ve mentioned a couple that were based on psalms, and since psalms are songs meant to be sung in worship, that makes perfect sense. But that’s not the only place we find hymns in scripture. There are hymns all throughout the book of Revelation, for example—lots of lyrics that would be familiar to us because we sing them on a regular basis—"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” is one example. “The Song of Solomon” was written to be sung, though vast parts of it are probably too steamy for Sunday morning. In the Book of Exodus, we have the text of a song of celebration sung by the people after God’s miracle of dividing the waters that allowed them to cross the sea and escape from enslavement in Egypt.
And our two scripture passages today contain hymns, hymns that look at the Kingship of Christ from two different angles. The canticle from the gospel looks at it from the angle of one of the first witnesses to God’s gracious act of salvation in Jesus Christ. The letter to the Colossians looks at it as revealed in the nature of Christ himself.
The Canticle of Zechariah is attributed to the Temple priest by that name. According to Luke’s account, after Zechariah’s son John the Baptist is born, when Zechariah affirms the name an angel revealed to him, he is able to speak for the first time in nine months. he priest breaks into song—this song.
It begins with a traditional blessing. Jews have blessings for just about everything we do throughout the day—waking up, bathing, sitting down to a meal. And the blessings always begin, Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu… Blessed are you, Lord our God. But this blessing is not about everyday happenings, like waking up, or bathing, or eating. This blessing is about freedom. About salvation. About God’s faithfulness to God’s people. In fact, the first part of this blessing, scholars now believe, was a hymn of the early church—the writer of the gospel inserted a hymn they knew from worship. From the first line all the way down through the verse that speaks of God setting us free to worship without fear, all the days of our life, is a pre-existing, first century hymn sung by early Christians.
But the next part of the hymn is a new addition. It brings us from the lofty words of salvation inward, to the intense, private emotions of a first-time father who is witnessing a miracle. Zechariah sings to his baby boy, maybe, as he is holding John in his arms.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,
to give God’s people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In this moment, Zechariah is a prophet. He is foretelling exactly what his son will do—preach the good news, offering a baptism of turning our lives around and starting over, fresh. He ends with words that connect Zechariah’s experience of being a father to God’s loving care for God’s children:
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine upon those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Zechariah describes the coming savior as a rising son, who will bring the people peace.
When the early Christians gathered around street preachers to hear the gospel according to Luke proclaimed, the story incorporated a hymn they already knew—music they sang together when they worshiped on the first day of the week, and gathered around the table for the Lord’s Supper. I can imagine those people breaking into song as they heard the words of that hymn.
Our Colossians passage also contains a hymn. As a prelude to the hymn, we hear words of encouragement to the church, the kind we often hear in greeting of ancient letters—that the people might have endurance in the face of struggle, that they might give thanks to God. You are members of the kingdom of God’s beloved son, the writer says. And then, we have a hymn to Christ the King.
This hymn is all about the mystery of the incarnation. Its words are startling and stirring. It begins by reminding us that, in the man Jesus, humanity has been given a glimpse of God, who is otherwise invisible to us, the greatest mystery. It reminds us of the Son’s presence with God the Father at creation—that, in fact, all was created through Christ and for Christ. “In Christ,” the hymn sings, “all things hold together.” Not only is he the firstborn of Creation, but he is also the firstborn of the dead—the one who is brought back from death by God, the one who is resurrected from the grave.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things…
by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Now imagine you are a member of the church at Colossae. The author of this letter would have sent it by messenger to your church, in care of an elder who preached or who led worship. That elder would have brought the letter to the worship gathering on a Sunday. That elder would have read the letter aloud to the congregation. And then, right after the greeting, those of you in the congregation would have heard words familiar to you—lyrics to a hymn you knew. Hearing the words would immediately bring to mind the music associated with them. And why wouldn’t you simply start singing the hymn, right then and there?
And over the course of your life, those words would sink in. They would become a part of you. They would become a part of the foundation of your faith.
Every one of us, every person of faith is on a journey of discovery. We are members of a Reformed church, and we affirm that God is always forming and re-forming us. The hymns you learned as a child may or may not still feel connected to your faith, which, of course evolves over your lifetime. But I invite you today to listen closely to the words of our anthem, which may be new to you, but in the heart of which you will find something beautifully familiar—just like the hymns tucked into these scripture passages. And I invite you to notice the words of the final hymn as you sing. See how they resonate in you. Hymns have a way of pushing their way past logic and learning and striking a chord in the heart. Through the power of music, may we all discover the seeds of a faith that hails Christ as King, bows before Christ as Lord, and knows Christ as living still.
Thanks be to God. Amen.