“The angel song is true.”
But how could he share this message? That may have been the question that 17th century French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf asked himself when he was sent to the Huron tribe in Canada. It was not an easy assignment. He didn’t speak the language, the weather could be harsh, living conditions were difficult and… there were multiple wars -- the English, the French and the Huron and Iroquois people were all fighting. Missionaries were not welcome – two of the missionaries that had gone before him had been killed and his partner was sent back to France. So Brébeuf was alone – and he wasn’t successful in his quest to convert the Huron tribe.
And yet, he persisted. He learned the language of the Huron tribe and wrote the first stanza and refrain of “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime,” using the Huron name for God—Gitchi Manitou. Through song, Brébeuf told the story of Jesus’ birth, not in a historical way, but rather as the story of God – who is the Lord of Heaven and Earth by any name. He told of Jesus, the One who has come, incarnate, with flesh on, as the King and Savior for all people. 1
During this time, thousands of Huron people were baptized. Was it because of Brébeuf ’s patient endurance and willingness to stick with them – even though his life was in danger? Or was it because he taught them the story of Jesus in their own language? We don’t know – the Huron language was not a written language at the time so there are no records. But what we do know is that the Huron people knew and sang this song and taught it to their children and their children’s children for generations as a song of their faith. We know this, because one hundred and fifty years later, another Jesuit missionary wrote down the words as the Huron people sang the song to him. An Indian notary, Paul Picard, then translated the words into French. Then, over a hundred and thirty years later, Jesse Edgar Middleton, a journalist and church choirmaster, wrote the other verses in English and set them to the traditional French carol that we have in our hymnal.2
The song that the angels sang – is true -- and lives on beyond the bounds of language and culture. The song that the angels sang is a song of praise to God – regardless of the translation.
Before the angel chorus sang, God’s angel had already given the shepherds all the information that they needed. They had already given the shepherds the message that Jesus is born and that he is their savior and how to find him. But I wonder if it was the Angel’s song that compelled them to follow.
Music has a way of cutting through all of the barriers that get in the way of our hearts and our lives hearing the Good News of God’s love for us.
A young man was out with his little girl in a shopping mall. And she was fussy. He had some things on his list that he needed to do – and yet that little girl just so out of sorts that nothing that he seemed to do was enough to placate her. Finally, he just scooped her up in his arms, wiggling though she was, and started to sing softly, just a whisper in her ear. He made up a song of love to no particular melody, telling her that she was the apple of his eye and that he loved her. He sang to her as he made his way through all his errands and the longer check-out lines. He sang to her until he finally put her in her car seat for the way home. As he started the car she said, “Can you sing that song about how you love me again?”
The angels’ song is kind of like that man’s gentle song into his daughter’s ear. It is a song of love. It cuts through all of our fears and anxieties, all of our guilt for not being the people we coulda/shoulda/wish we woulda been. It is a song of love – praising God and proclaiming God’s peace to all with whom God is pleased. And God is pleased to welcome one and all. The angels’ song is true. And it is for you.
So let us join the angels in their song, for their song is true: “the hold child of earth and heaven is born today for you.” Amen.
1Hugh McKellar, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-twas-in-the-moon-of-wintertime
2https://hymnary.org/person/Middleton_JE
December 11, 2022 Faith-Lilac Way Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane