“Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies.”
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”
Words: Charles Wesley 1739
Music: William Hayman Cummings, “Mendelssohn,” 1855 (Based on portions of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Festgesang,” 1840)
One of the awesome things about singing Christmas carols together is the shared joy they represent. There’s nothing like being part of a large group of people all singing a joyful hymn at the top of their lungs. The carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” certainly lends itself well to this practice. The meaning of the words and the sound of the music come together in an explosion of joy.
The words were written by Charles Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, in 1739. The text has been altered over the years. For example, Wesley’s original first line was “Hark how all the welkin rings,” welkin being a delightfully archaic word for the sky. The tune is a variation on a work by Felix Mendelssohn, created to honour, of all things, the 400th anniversary of movable type. Ironically, Mendelssohn didn’t think his tune was fit for sacred music:
…it will never do to sacred words. There must be a national and merry subject found out, something to which the soldierlike and buxom motion of the piece has some relation…
Quoted in: Gant, Andrew. The Carols of Christmas (pp. 111-112). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
That being said, Mendelssohn’s caveat probably says more about his view of sacred music than it does the tune itself, as its very “soldierlike and buxom motion” is what makes it such a great carol to belt out.
But there’s something more to Christmas carols than just having fun. There are spiritual reasons that make singing them a powerful experience. One is the outburst of heavenly gladness expressing itself in the voice and body; another is the unity of purpose when many are united in a common celebration of the Lord. Both are captured in this carol, particularly in these lines, inviting the whole world to join in the triumphant celebration of the Lord’s birth:
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
Glory to the new-born King.
The Teachings of the New Church explain that songs convey an inner joy that mere words cannot. I imagine it as a great swell of water rising up until it cannot be contained and so bursts its banks and floods out into the world:
A song also symbolizes a glorification, which is a joyful confession of the heart, because a song uplifts, causing the heart’s affection to break out into sound and display itself powerfully in its life.
Apocalypse Revealed §279
And when a group allows themselves to have this collective experience, from a good heart, it is the Lord who leads them:
And the wonder of it was, although there were very many angels they all nevertheless thought and spoke as one, and in so doing represented as one. They did so because nobody wished to do anything by himself, let alone direct the rest and so lead the choir. Anyone who does this is of himself instantly severed from the choir. But all did allow themselves to be led by one another, and so they were all, individually and collectively, led by the Lord. Into such harmonious relationships all good persons are introduced who enter the next life.
Secrets of Heaven §3350
Sadly, this year the singing of carols has been severely curtailed. Likewise the joy of many has been dampened. There has perhaps not been the same unity of purpose and camaraderie that most Christmases bring. But although we won’t be singing many carols together, and the outward expressions of joy are limited, the inner joy and unity that comes from looking to the Lord cannot be shaken. Across the world, in our own little homes, as we show love to one another, the Lord conducts us into one mighty heavenly choir, and even fills our joy to the full:
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
John 15:11-12
New Church Christmas Carols 