Things Are Not What They Seem Series

And ever over its Babel sounds / The blessed angels sing.

As the scene of the beautiful Bethlehem plain is being painted, the struggles and chaos of our sin-filled world creep in and change the aura of the moment.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife / The world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel strain have rolled / Two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not / The love-song which they bring;

O hush the noise, you men of strife / And hear the angels sing.

Then into the midst of our own personal struggles and setbacks, the angels’ song invades:

And you, beneath life’s crushing load, / Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way / With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours / Come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road, / And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on, / By prophets seen of old,

When with the ever circling years / Shall comes the time foretold;

When peace shall over all the earth / Its ancient splendors fling,

And all the world give back the song / Which now the angels sing.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when all will be made right, and the pain, suffering, and frustration of these days will fall away. The coming of the Promised One is near, and salvation is at hand. The Lord has not forgotten. Mary can sing in confidence, and so can we,

“From now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." (Luke 1:48-55)

The days are surely coming, says the Lord. Thanks be to God! Amen.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)