It Came Upon A Midnight Clear: The Angels’ Song of Peace
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear: Singing and Living the Angels’ Song of Peace
Isaiah 9:6-7 Luke 2:13-14
Advent Series - Christmas Carols: Songs of Hope on the Way to Bethlehem
December 14, 2025 Third Sunday of Advent
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, CA
PDF OF SERMON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne
of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those with whom he delights.”
It is challenging to see or hear something new in the Christmas story. However a few have told me that my description of Mary and Jesus staying with relatives in Bethlehem and that they put Jesus in a manger in the floor of living room near the animals has stuck with you. So we come to this season with decorations and art and Christmas carols that all seem familiar.
But I hope we have not heard the Christmas story so many times that we miss its strangeness. There are many strange details in this well-worn story.
A virgin gives birth to a baby boy. It is strange.
The promised one is born among the animals. His first home is not in a palace, but the cattle’s feeding trough among poor peasants. That is strange.
Last week I preached about the first visitors according to Luke. We do not know the names of the first visitors to the Christ child. They are anonymous. All we know is that they are shepherds, sheep herders, members of a trade that was despised the religious people of Jerusalem. The announcement comes first to them, as outsiders. A Savior, Messiah, and Lord, is born for them. For them! He is freshly born, wrapped in cloth bands, and harbored among people very much like themselves. Shepherds have a Savior? That is strange.
But this year, perhaps the strangest detail of all is the message that struck me comes on the lips of a heavenly host: “Peace on earth….”
First, I learned this week that a “heavenly host” is a battalion of angels. An army of angels. The Greek word is στρατιά (stratia) which means. An army, i.e. the angels, the celestial luminaries. It is a gathering of fierce soldiers with haloes and wings. They are the front line of God’s tactical mission. They are the first-responders sent to do God’s holy will. They are sent, not to wage war, but to wage peace. Amazing! Friend Mark Davis offers this translation
And suddenly there was with the angel a plethora of heavenly troops who were praising the God and saying, “Glory in highest to God and on earth peace to people of good will.”
After two thousand years of celebrating this birth, the human race is still fighting against the angels. We are a warlike species. We manufacture wars, we fight wars, we profit by wars. We picture peace on our Christmas cards in the most idyllic images. But if we open a newspaper or watch the news, we see another reality. Shooting at Brown University. The horrific shooting of Jews celebrating the first night of Chanukah in Australia. Ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestinians in Gaza. Meanwhile heaven’s angels shout of peace on earth.
Those angels in Luke 2 saying (not singing as we assume) saying and bending near the earth with their harps. Thank you to our harpist Henry for making sure we know what those shepherds heard. That heavenly music and the word of peace to all people, to all the earth is what caught the heart and mind of the composer of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”
"It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" is based on an 1849 poem written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. In 1850, Sears' lyrics were set to music.
History
Sears served the Unitarian congregation in Wayland, Massachusetts, before moving on to a larger congregation at First Church of Christ, Unitarian, in Lancaster, PA. After seven years, he had a mental health crisis and returned to Wayland. He wrote a poem while serving as a part-time preacher in Wayland. Writing during a period of personal melancholy. Issues facing the new country were weighing heavy on him. He was troubled by ongoing debate over slavery. It would be years before the Civil War started, but he sensed tension was brewing. And he saw the poverty and hopelessness of many in his community. He was deeply troubled by the Mexican-American war that had ended less than a year before. (April 1846–February 1848). So much loss of life.
He wanted to write a poem to read to his congregation on Christmas Eve to help his congregation see and respond to the concerns and issues of his day. Sears' song is remarkable because its focus not on Bethlehem, but on his own time, and on the contemporary issue of war and peace.
At its core, the hymn is not a narrative expression of the story of the angels and shepherds in Luke 2; it is a hymn of application, admonishing humankind to heed the message of peace declared by the angels, and it offers a word of hope in the coming of an era of peace.
The poem was published in 1849 in a publication called The Christian Register. Composer and choral music writer Richard Willis saw the poem in the Register. He had written a tune called “Carol” years ago and thought it fit Sears poem perfectly. A year later it was published – words and music together.
This carol was sung by troops during WWI, particularly in France during Christmas season. And again during WWII this carols was sung by US troops. Entertainers Bob Hope and Dinah Shore performed it during USO shows.
Throughout Advent and all year, we hold both – our hopes and fears, joy and sorrow, We often have a hard time hearing the angels. And what is the first thing the Bible’s angels ever say? Fear not. Stop being afraid. And then an army of Christmas angels shout or maybe sing of peace on earth.
We want peace, God’s shalom. This strong image from Luke feels courageous to me . “Heavenly Host did not say that.” And the words of Isaiah that we often hear in Handel’s Messiah has another layer of meaning for peace. In Greek and also in Hebrew it is an army. “Endless peace” by the “Lord of Hosts.” References in Hebrew scriptures Sabaoth (from Hebrew Tsebaoth) means "hosts" or "armies," and when used with God's name, it forms the title "Lord of Hosts" signifying God's supreme power and sovereignty over all heavenly and earthly armies, angels, and forces of the universe. It portrays God as the divine Commander, capable of providing strength, righteousness, peace and protection. “Lord of Hosts” appears 60 times in Isaiah.
The Hebrew Sabaoth is an intentional military word, indicating that God has battalions of heavenly servants who go forth to make holy peace. The heavenly host creates reconciliation. The heavenly host enforces forgiveness. The heavenly host is all about the work of God to eliminate strife between people, to teach them to get along.
As Rev. Bill Carter offers in his sermon - When Luke uses the “army” word for angels, he is offering an alternative to the world as we know it. In his own day, everybody knew how the Roman Caesar worked: by force and intimidation. The Roman army was the most brutal and well-armed in the world. When Caesar wanted something, his army had no regard for human life. At the time of Jesus’ birth, Caesar stationed soldiers in nearly every area of Israel, under the guise of “keeping peace.” But there was no peace. In one smooth move, Caesar Augustus created a census to find out where the peasants were, so he could tax them to pay for the very soldiers that oppressed them. That’s how the Christmas story begins. This is when Jesus is born.
The good news is that another army comes, a strong and vocal army of angels. They serve the God who created every person. They are commanded by the God who made the world and loves it. They come to announce God’s mission to the whole human race: Peace on earth for all people of good will.
The strangeness of Christmas is that God offers another way for the world to live. This is the way of peace. Peace means a lot of things. Peace is tranquility between the nations and harmony between individuals. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but a certain stillness in the midst of conflict that is expressed in good will and reconciliation. Peace is the intentional choice that we will not respond to violence with violence; But God comes to set us free from our war-like tendencies. God sends Jesus into the world to initiate peace.
In a Christmas Eve sermon offered some years before he was shot to death by a gun, Martin Luther King Jr. said these words:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. . . Love is the most durable power in the world. This creative force, so beautifully exemplified in the life of our Christ, is the most potent instrument available in (our) quest for peace and security.
There is another way to live. A world perpetually at war will regard this as strange. But God sends an army of angels to announce that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is born into our world. We are not left alone to our fear and cruelty. God intervenes, and we have to decide if we can take part in God’s peacemaking mission to the world.
It proceeds as someone has said: Believe – Behave – Become. “What we believe here, what we put in the forefront of our heart, is what drives our behavior. Our behavior shapes who we become. So if we put peace at the forefront of our hearts, not only is our behavior driven by that ethic, we are changed, our communities are changed, and our world is changed.” (Sparks)
If you were to place yourself in the story, maybe imagine being a shepherd whose daily life felt predictable and small and ordinary. And then you heard and felt and saw – powerful, music and joy. Good news! Peace – to you, to all people, to the earth. May we be open to that strange news. May we think about what we believe about peace, act in ways reflect Christ’s peace, and become people more in tune with the angels’ song. Amen.
Rev. Bill Carter, “Peace on Earth,” 12.24.12 https://billcartersermons.blogspot.com/2012/12/peace-on-earth.html
Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (2001: Zondervan) pp. 96-101
Rev. Susan Sparks, “Wishes for the New Year,” Odyssey Networks, December 21, 2012