God Rest You Merry
12/24/07
Christmas Eve 2007
Luke 2:1-20
Merry Christmas everyone! Merry Christmas! That is the traditional Christmas greeting. Everyone from Santa Claus to the politicians seeking votes in the Iowa caucuses is sending out the greeting, Merry Christmas. Christmas is the season of merriment. It is a time for celebrating, for putting up colorful decorations, for opening presents, and for singing cheerful songs. If someone is not merry, what is he or she? A “scrooge,” who says, “Bah Humbug,” after that old grump Ebenezer in Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol.”
However, I’ve talked with people this past week who are anything but merry. As wonderful as Christmas can be, it is only a date on a human calendar. Life’s troubles do not take a leave of absence for the Christmas season. Let me share one example. On Thursday I attended the funeral of a woman who was my mother’s next door neighbor for 46 years. Her son and I are the same age, grew up together, and graduated together from high school. Now your mother’s death so close to Christmas would be hard enough to deal with. But 18 months earlier, her husband, my friend’s father, died of cancer. Prior to his death, the oldest boy in the family had been diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died last summer at the age of 56. So, in 18 months, this family of five has had 3 funerals, with just two sons now surviving. And both of them are living with the reality that they could also get ALS, a genetic illness that took the life of a grandfather, a brother, and their mother, who had just received the diagnosis a month before she died. It’s hard to be merry and to celebrate when you have suffered such loss in your life.
Closer to home, as a pastor I’m quite aware of the trials and tribulations people are facing this holiday season. There are several people who have been recently treated for cancer, including one with a brain tumor. Not only are they suffering from the physical effects of the treatment, there is the mental and emotional uncertainty that goes with such a serious diagnosis. Another member has had numerous tests trying to figure out what is causing severe pain. Still another had their house broken into last week. Another has had serious problems with foster children develop.
It’s tough to make yourself feel merry under such circumstances. Everyone else is merry, or so it appears. It is the expectation that you will be merry, too. But you’re not. If anything, you feel worse because of the expectations of the season.
I know others who are not exactly dreading Christmas, but they are looking forward to having it end because they are exhausted from their merrymaking. To be honest, pastors and other church workers often fall into this category. Christmas parties start in early December and continue non-stop. Then there’s the decorating, shopping, and wrapping that had to be done. Maybe preparation for out of town guests or travel plans add to the stress. It’s almost to the point that Christmas is not so much to be celebrated as simply endured. The twelve days of Christmas, the actual season for celebrating Christ’s birth which begins Christmas Day, are little more than the twelve days of recovery, a time to regain the energy and strength expended in all this merry making.
In the face of what are often ambivalent feelings toward Christmas, a 19th century English carol proclaims, “God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.” "God Rest You Merry” was first published in Britain in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Sandys" \o "William B. Sandys" William B. Sandys. The author is unknown.
On first hearing, the words sound very idealistic, even terribly unrealistic in light of the problems we all face. “Let nothing you dismay?” You must be kidding. I know lots of people who are very dismayed and not particularly merry.
But maybe, even though we’ve sung or heard this carol countless times, we’re misunderstanding what the words meant. The old English words and the poetic form in which they’re set make them a little difficult to understand.
The way I first understood the carol was to picture in my mind a street corner in London with a light falling snow, causing the kerosene lamp to look as if it had a halo around it. Around the base of the lamp, oblivious to the horses and carriages going by, are a small group of carolers, all in long wool coats, men in top hats and women with their hands deep inside their fur muffs. Maybe this picture is one I actually saw, as this was the carol sung in Dicken’s “a Christmas Carol,” which has been dramatized in theater, movies, and television. All of the carolers are very merry, with no problems other than the cold. These are the merry gentlemen and women to whom God brings rest.
Understood in this way, one has to be merry before the words apply. God rest you, merry gentlemen. Merry is an adjective modifying the noun, gentlemen. The implication is that for those who are merry, caught up in the Christmas spirit, God will rest. Rest is an old English way to say “keep.” God keep you, Merry Gentlemen.
But, I have learned, that this is not what the carol means. This is an instance of the placement of a comma being crucial to the meaning of the sentence. As you’ll see in the title in the bulletin, the carol does not say, “God rest you, (comma), Merry Gentlemen. Rather, it says, “God rest you merry, (comma), gentlemen. Merry is an adverb here, modifying the verb, rest. “God rest you merry, Gentlemen.” God rest you merry. This is a statement of blessing for all people. It’s not just for those of us who are feeling merry. God rest you merry. God keep you merry, no matter who you are or what your circumstance in life.
Now the carol applies to everyone. Not just the well to do on a London street corner, but also the poor Cratchit family in A Christmas Carol. God rest you merry, Cratchit family. Not just to those who today are enjoying good health, but also those who are battling cancer or going through grief. God rest you merry, as you fight cancer. The blessing is not just for those that are looking forward to the family gathering, but also for those, who, for one reason or another, find them difficult. God rest you merry, as you face difficult family circumstances. This is a blessing not just for those that are marry at Christmas, but for those who find the season to be a rather heavy burden.
God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. This is a carol of great hope. This is a carol of great depth of meaning. God rest you merry, God keep you joyful, even in the face of great trials. Let nothing you dismay. Don’t give up hope. Why? Remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from Satan’s power, when we were gone astray. There’s the good news. There’s the message of Christmas that is proclaimed this night.
In the Christmas story from Luke we hear it. God uses two ordinary people, Mary, who gives birth to the child, and Joseph, who is a supportive husband and father even thought the child is not his own. The baby is not born in a palace fit for a king. No, he is born in a barn, with the animals, a manger for a crib. The first to hear the birth announcement is not a king or a rich and powerful leader in the synagogue. No, it is the shepherds, blue collar workers looked down upon by so many for questionable character. This baby is born for everyone, born as the poorest and weakest among us. And who is this baby? The angels tell us. “For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
We can all rest merry tonight because God has become one of us. In John’s gospel it says, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. And we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the father.”
That is the Christmas message, that God has become flesh, a human being. And more than that, this Christ child becomes our savior, through his death on the cross for our sins and all the sins of the world, and through his resurrection in victory that we celebrate on Easter. Because of God’s gift in Christ, there is in the end nothing that can defeat or harm us, no matter how tough life appears.
This is not to say that we forget our problems and pretend they’re not there. No, they are there, they are real, and at times they seem overwhelming. Ask my friend who buried his father, mother, and brother in the last 18 months. Ask the one being treated for brain cancer. Beyond the personal problems, let us not forget that we continue to be at war in Iraq, that terrorism continues, that many are losing their homes to foreclosure because of the tough economic times, that there is hunger, poverty, and disease throughout the globe. These problems are real and we can’t bury our heads in the sand.
But we can rest merry. Not because there aren’t any problems and we’re always happy, but because God blesses us with the gift of the savior. That gives us hope. That keeps us moving forward. That gives us peace. With that we rest merry, in this life, and with the hope of our final rest in heaven one day.
The final verse of the carol sums up this hope. “Now to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place; And with true love and brotherhood, each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas, all others doth efface.” The word “efface” means literally, to wipe away. The message of Christmas, the gift of the savior, wipes away everything else. O, yes, the problems still hang around. But they finally lose their power because the savior is born. Our problems fade in significance whenever we recall that “unto us, this day, in the City of David, is born our savior, Christ the Lord!
So, on this holy night, may God rest you merry; men, women, children; one and all, in whatever joys or sorrows you face. Amen
With thanks to Pastor Wayne Peterson, St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, Plymouth, MN.
Luke 2:1-20
Merry Christmas everyone! Merry Christmas! That is the traditional Christmas greeting. Everyone from Santa Claus to the politicians seeking votes in the Iowa caucuses is sending out the greeting, Merry Christmas. Christmas is the season of merriment. It is a time for celebrating, for putting up colorful decorations, for opening presents, and for singing cheerful songs. If someone is not merry, what is he or she? A “scrooge,” who says, “Bah Humbug,” after that old grump Ebenezer in Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol.”
However, I’ve talked with people this past week who are anything but merry. As wonderful as Christmas can be, it is only a date on a human calendar. Life’s troubles do not take a leave of absence for the Christmas season. Let me share one example. On Thursday I attended the funeral of a woman who was my mother’s next door neighbor for 46 years. Her son and I are the same age, grew up together, and graduated together from high school. Now your mother’s death so close to Christmas would be hard enough to deal with. But 18 months earlier, her husband, my friend’s father, died of cancer. Prior to his death, the oldest boy in the family had been diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. He died last summer at the age of 56. So, in 18 months, this family of five has had 3 funerals, with just two sons now surviving. And both of them are living with the reality that they could also get ALS, a genetic illness that took the life of a grandfather, a brother, and their mother, who had just received the diagnosis a month before she died. It’s hard to be merry and to celebrate when you have suffered such loss in your life.
Closer to home, as a pastor I’m quite aware of the trials and tribulations people are facing this holiday season. There are several people who have been recently treated for cancer, including one with a brain tumor. Not only are they suffering from the physical effects of the treatment, there is the mental and emotional uncertainty that goes with such a serious diagnosis. Another member has had numerous tests trying to figure out what is causing severe pain. Still another had their house broken into last week. Another has had serious problems with foster children develop.
It’s tough to make yourself feel merry under such circumstances. Everyone else is merry, or so it appears. It is the expectation that you will be merry, too. But you’re not. If anything, you feel worse because of the expectations of the season.
I know others who are not exactly dreading Christmas, but they are looking forward to having it end because they are exhausted from their merrymaking. To be honest, pastors and other church workers often fall into this category. Christmas parties start in early December and continue non-stop. Then there’s the decorating, shopping, and wrapping that had to be done. Maybe preparation for out of town guests or travel plans add to the stress. It’s almost to the point that Christmas is not so much to be celebrated as simply endured. The twelve days of Christmas, the actual season for celebrating Christ’s birth which begins Christmas Day, are little more than the twelve days of recovery, a time to regain the energy and strength expended in all this merry making.
In the face of what are often ambivalent feelings toward Christmas, a 19th century English carol proclaims, “God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.” "God Rest You Merry” was first published in Britain in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Sandys" \o "William B. Sandys" William B. Sandys. The author is unknown.
On first hearing, the words sound very idealistic, even terribly unrealistic in light of the problems we all face. “Let nothing you dismay?” You must be kidding. I know lots of people who are very dismayed and not particularly merry.
But maybe, even though we’ve sung or heard this carol countless times, we’re misunderstanding what the words meant. The old English words and the poetic form in which they’re set make them a little difficult to understand.
The way I first understood the carol was to picture in my mind a street corner in London with a light falling snow, causing the kerosene lamp to look as if it had a halo around it. Around the base of the lamp, oblivious to the horses and carriages going by, are a small group of carolers, all in long wool coats, men in top hats and women with their hands deep inside their fur muffs. Maybe this picture is one I actually saw, as this was the carol sung in Dicken’s “a Christmas Carol,” which has been dramatized in theater, movies, and television. All of the carolers are very merry, with no problems other than the cold. These are the merry gentlemen and women to whom God brings rest.
Understood in this way, one has to be merry before the words apply. God rest you, merry gentlemen. Merry is an adjective modifying the noun, gentlemen. The implication is that for those who are merry, caught up in the Christmas spirit, God will rest. Rest is an old English way to say “keep.” God keep you, Merry Gentlemen.
But, I have learned, that this is not what the carol means. This is an instance of the placement of a comma being crucial to the meaning of the sentence. As you’ll see in the title in the bulletin, the carol does not say, “God rest you, (comma), Merry Gentlemen. Rather, it says, “God rest you merry, (comma), gentlemen. Merry is an adverb here, modifying the verb, rest. “God rest you merry, Gentlemen.” God rest you merry. This is a statement of blessing for all people. It’s not just for those of us who are feeling merry. God rest you merry. God keep you merry, no matter who you are or what your circumstance in life.
Now the carol applies to everyone. Not just the well to do on a London street corner, but also the poor Cratchit family in A Christmas Carol. God rest you merry, Cratchit family. Not just to those who today are enjoying good health, but also those who are battling cancer or going through grief. God rest you merry, as you fight cancer. The blessing is not just for those that are looking forward to the family gathering, but also for those, who, for one reason or another, find them difficult. God rest you merry, as you face difficult family circumstances. This is a blessing not just for those that are marry at Christmas, but for those who find the season to be a rather heavy burden.
God rest you merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. This is a carol of great hope. This is a carol of great depth of meaning. God rest you merry, God keep you joyful, even in the face of great trials. Let nothing you dismay. Don’t give up hope. Why? Remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from Satan’s power, when we were gone astray. There’s the good news. There’s the message of Christmas that is proclaimed this night.
In the Christmas story from Luke we hear it. God uses two ordinary people, Mary, who gives birth to the child, and Joseph, who is a supportive husband and father even thought the child is not his own. The baby is not born in a palace fit for a king. No, he is born in a barn, with the animals, a manger for a crib. The first to hear the birth announcement is not a king or a rich and powerful leader in the synagogue. No, it is the shepherds, blue collar workers looked down upon by so many for questionable character. This baby is born for everyone, born as the poorest and weakest among us. And who is this baby? The angels tell us. “For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
We can all rest merry tonight because God has become one of us. In John’s gospel it says, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. And we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the father.”
That is the Christmas message, that God has become flesh, a human being. And more than that, this Christ child becomes our savior, through his death on the cross for our sins and all the sins of the world, and through his resurrection in victory that we celebrate on Easter. Because of God’s gift in Christ, there is in the end nothing that can defeat or harm us, no matter how tough life appears.
This is not to say that we forget our problems and pretend they’re not there. No, they are there, they are real, and at times they seem overwhelming. Ask my friend who buried his father, mother, and brother in the last 18 months. Ask the one being treated for brain cancer. Beyond the personal problems, let us not forget that we continue to be at war in Iraq, that terrorism continues, that many are losing their homes to foreclosure because of the tough economic times, that there is hunger, poverty, and disease throughout the globe. These problems are real and we can’t bury our heads in the sand.
But we can rest merry. Not because there aren’t any problems and we’re always happy, but because God blesses us with the gift of the savior. That gives us hope. That keeps us moving forward. That gives us peace. With that we rest merry, in this life, and with the hope of our final rest in heaven one day.
The final verse of the carol sums up this hope. “Now to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place; And with true love and brotherhood, each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas, all others doth efface.” The word “efface” means literally, to wipe away. The message of Christmas, the gift of the savior, wipes away everything else. O, yes, the problems still hang around. But they finally lose their power because the savior is born. Our problems fade in significance whenever we recall that “unto us, this day, in the City of David, is born our savior, Christ the Lord!
So, on this holy night, may God rest you merry; men, women, children; one and all, in whatever joys or sorrows you face. Amen
With thanks to Pastor Wayne Peterson, St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, Plymouth, MN.