Dear Editor,
I appreciated the article in this month’s issue by the Revd Antony Rees ‘Christmas carols critiqued!’ (Some thoughts on what we are singing). We should always think more about the words we are singing and who we are singing them to! Many of our hymns are not sung directly to the Lord but are either declarations about God, or are sung to our own souls and each other to encourage. For example – Praise my soul the King of Heaven, Rejoice, rejoice Christ is in us, Rejoice and be glad the Redeemer has come. (That being the case, surely when singing these songs we should look at one another and encourage one another with a glad countenance!)
Of course some hymns/songs are a mixture of singing to the Lord and singing to one another. It is good practise therefore (if possible – impossible if only using projected songs) to look at the words of the hymns/ songs before the service starts, to think about the words and who we are singing to.
Back to the article. I am glad that the writer spent more time ‘enjoying the nourishing wheat’ of good carols than criticising the ‘annoying chaff’ of the bad. I too would put in a good word for It came upon a mid- night clear. However I do take issue with the criticism of the line ‘Late in time behold him come’ in Hark the Herald Angels Sing... . As I understand it, this is nothing to do with Jesus being late in the sense we talk about of being late for an appointment or of him coming at the wrong time. It is simply the old English way of referring to ‘after a long time’ – later in the history of our world.
Keep singing and thinking, hearts, emotions and minds together.
Regards,
