It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

December 20, 2023
Devotional by: Dale Chapin

“For lo, the days are hastening on,
By prophet seen of old,
When, with the ever-encircling years.
Shall come the time foretold
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.”

“Begin with the end in mind.” writes Stephen Covey. It is one of the seven habits he believes mark highly effective people. Unfortunately, few of us regularly practice it... perhaps least of all, people who frequent churches during the season of Advent. We are all about preparing expectantly to celebrate baby Jesus, Christ’s first coming… not so much his second, and final coming as King. This was not always so. In fact, when Advent was first recognized as a season in the church calendar, Christ’s second coming was front and center in the church. Sadly, the sentimentality surrounding Christmas has swallowed up this most important future event when God establishes “a new heaven and earth”, the kingdom of God when all things are made right. When harmony, wholeness, and sufficiency are enjoyed by all. Sometimes I wonder… what if every follower began each day with this end in mind. Maybe then, we could rehearse the song, and even now provide glimpses of this glorious consummation toward which we are headed… until the day it arrives in all of its fullness, and having rehearsed, “the whole world sends back the song which the angels once sung… “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those he favors!’