The God of Unmet Expectations

 

May all your expectations be frustrated, may all your plans be thwarted, may all your desires be withered into nothingness, that you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child, and sing and dance in the love of God who is Father, Son, and Spirit.  --Larry Hein

 I started my car this morning, on my way to get a haircut.  The radio was set to a local Christian music station.  Nowadays they are playing all Christmas all the time.  I don't mind it much--it gets old on longer trips, but I can always change the station.

The first song I heard as I put the car in gear was a version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.  Not one of my favorite seasonal songs, but one I sing along with mindlessly, knowing all the words by heart.  The second line reminded me of a verse of Scripture.  "Let nothing you dismay," led me to think of Philippians 4:6.  "Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

Maybe, I thought, this old 16th century English carol might have some relevant message for me now in the 21st century U.S. of A.  It reminded me of a book I am reading.  It is called Your God is Too Glorious, written by one of my favorite authors, Chad Bird.  The sub-title is "Finding God in the Most Unexpected Places."  The whole point of this book is that often our religion is too pristine, too sanitized.  If our expectation is that we meet God behind beautiful stained-glass windows, wearing our very best clothes, all scrubbed and smiling, then we may be amazed to find Him in our day-to-day dealings with the world.  We may be more amazed still to find Him at our lowest, when we are smelly and dirty, and our faces are not masked behind smiles but rather scrunched in pain and agony, when we see the world through tear-stained eyes.  

"As a feed trough was not a worthy crib for the Christ," Chad Bird writes, "as prostitutes and tax collectors were not His worthy dinner guests, and as a bloody cross was not a worthy throne, so the ways and means of God's priests in this world are shrouded by that which seems beneath such a grand deity."  While we rightly see Jesus as the Son of God, there is, on the human side of His ancestry, a whole list of sinners.  From patriarchs to prostitutes, from mighty men to murderers, we see God's hand directing each generation toward the promise of salvation.

So I did a little research.  God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is one of the oldest songs we still sing, dating back to the 1500s and before.  It was written as a reaction to (and maybe a rebellion from) 15th century church music, which was typically dark, somber, and in Latin.  Since the lay-persons (not clergy) could not change the way that they worshiped in church, they started writing and singing songs in a more contemporary style.  The clergy and the Church did not intend for their parishioners to go rogue like this, but it happened.

The song itself has gone through several revisions over the years.  One of the earliest printings of the song was in 1775--before that it was handed down from one person to another, from generation to generation, and it probably had several revisions along the way.  Nevertheless, one of the earliest known versions of the song looks like this:

1. God rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas-day
To save poor souls from Satan’s power,
Which long time had gone astray.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

2. From God that is our Father
The blessed angels came
Unto some certain shepherds,
With tidings of the same;
That he was born in Bethlehem
The Son of God by name.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

3. Now when they came to Bethlehem,
Where our sweet Saviour lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay.
The blessed Virgin kneeling down
Unto the Lord did pray.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

4. With sudden joy and gladness,
The shepherds were beguil’d,
To see the Babe of Israel
Before his mother mild.
O then with joy and cheerfulness
Rejoice each mother’s child.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

5. Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place
Like we true loving brethren,
Each other to embrace,
For the merry time of Christmas
Is coming on a-pace.
And it is tidings of comfort and joy.

Typical of 17th-century language, “rest” in this usage means “to keep or continue” while “merry” means “great, mighty, or strong”. So a modernized translation of the first line could read: “God keep you strong, gentlemen”. This fits with the rest of the verse – a hopeful cry to stay strong because Jesus Christ has saved mankind.  Looking further into the text, the shepherds did not expect to see angels that day.  We, too, should be shocked and amazed that the Son of God, King of Kings whom angels proclaim, would be sleeping in a feed trough.

Less than a century later, the song had gone through some major revisions.  The original authors likely did not expect the song to take on extra verses and even include some extra-biblical language that makes little sense.  Nevertheless, here is what the printed version looked like in 1833.

1. God rest you merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray. 

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

2. In Bethlehem, in Jewry (Judea)
This blessed babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which his mother Mary
Nothing did take in scorn.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

3. From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came,
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

4. Fear not, then said the Angel,

Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of virtue, power and might;
So frequently to vanquish all
The friends of Satan quite.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

5. The Shepherds at those tidings

Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding
In tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed babe to find.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

6. But when to Bethlehem they came,

Whereas this infant lay,
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay,
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray.

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

7. 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 other doth deface (outshine).

O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day.

 Obviously some poetic license was taken between the 1775 version and the 1833 lyrics.  The colloquial use of "Jewry" to mean Judea, the place where Jews lived, is not something we would say today. It does, however, bring to mind the prophecy of Micah 5:2 which was quoted in Matthew 2:6, "And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel."  Verse 3 says that Mary "did not take scorn" for having a child out of wedlock, but we know that is not likely.  We could also take issue with verse 5, where the song goes in a really weird direction: yes, the shepherds did leave their flocks unattended, but the peril was more likely robbers or predatory animals than tornado-like weather.

There was also another verse added in some versions of the song.

8.God bless the ruler of this house, and send him long to reign,
And many a merry Christmas may live to see again;
Among your friends and kindred that live both far and near-

That God send you a happy new year, happy new year,
And God send you a happy new year.

Not only does this verse depart from the Scriptural narrative weaving throughout the rest of the song, but it references the New Year rather than Christmas.  It also references some class-envy, as is described here:

This stanza is usually omitted from hymnals, as it speaks more to a domestic Christmas celebration in the dwelling of the Lord of the Manor. The New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) describes this version of the carol as a “luck-visit song” or a song sung by carolers when visiting a house (Watson, Canterbury, n.p.). Though most of the remaining stanzas present a straight-forward telling of the Christmas narrative (Luke 2:8-16), the “merry gentlemen” in stanza 1 combined with this traditional last stanza call into question its inclusion in many hymnals. Indeed, hymnologist Ray Glover, commenting on its appearance in the Episcopal Hymnals 1940 and 1982, noted: “This is one of the most popular English traditional carols that entered the musical repertoire of the Episcopal Church . . .. It has had, however, a mixed acceptance by hymnal editors of other denominations” (Glover, 1994, p. 105).  --C. Michael Hawn (Southern Methodist University).

 The version we sing today has undergone still more changes in text.  In addition, we have not even touched on the varied tunes to which these lyrics were sung over the decades.  The point is this: just as God can use an old English carol, even after it goes through some weird and (some might say) heretical revisions, He can also take our circumstances, including our dark past, and use us for His glory.  God can use us, despite a questionable heritage, or a sinful past.  He can meet us where we are, whether that is in a beautiful cathedral or a filthy barnyard.  As Chad Bird said, "While the world anticipates God to locate himself in power, wealth, or anything dubbed glorious and attractive in their eyes, he is ensconced in the exact opposite."

Let the caroling begin!