(No Reflections on 12/12/23)
Rector’s Recflections Wednesday 13th December 2023
A Favourite Advent Hymn
We have now reached the forth verse of the Advent hymn, “Creator of the stars of night”.
The fourth verse reads as follows :
“At thy great name, exalted now,
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow,
And things in heaven and earth shall own
That thou art Lord and King alone”.
As I write these words, I’m thinking of the story of the Wise Men found in Matthew’s gospel. Matthew tells us that “when they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” Why did they kneel down in front of Jesus? It might be that they were simply paying the respect which was due to King. Or it is possible that they recognised that this baby was both human and divine, and so their kneeling is a recognition that they were presence of God. Interestingly, the giving of gifts comes after they had knelt down and paid Jesus homage. Perhaps this order of events is designed to remind us that the starting point of our Christian faith is a recognition of who Jesus really is.
Luke tells us that the Wise Men were not the only visitors to the baby Jesus : there were also shepherds. Luke does not tell us explicitly that the shepherds also knelt down in front of Jesus, but perhaps he took it for granted.
The fourth verse of our hymn looks forward to a time in the future when every knee shall bow before Jesus, and “all things in heaven and earth shall own that [he is] Lord and King”. This belief is found in the New Testament, and has inspired such classic hymns as “At the name of Jesus”. I wonder if you find such a belief helpful? It certainly gives us hope for the future of our world : there will come a time when Jesus reigns supreme, and everyone will recognise that Jesus truly is what Christians have always believed him to be. All the world will recognise that in Jesus God took human flesh, and became one of us.