a blog of hymn histories and meditations

  • HOME
  • BIO
  • GALLERY
  • HYMN SITES
  • PREVIOUS POSTS

What homegrown Christmas carol was written as a pre-Civil War prayer for peace?

December 16, 2015 By Pam McAllister

HM16-Earth-ornamentEdmund H. Sears (1810-1876) was a Unitarian pastor and author in Massachusetts. He penned “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” in 1849. The Mexican-American War had ended, but the question of slavery was tearing the nation apart.

Sears’ world was weary, tense, and ugly with racial injustice and political discord. The Civil War was little more than a decade away, but the pastor could foresee the day when blood would drench the orchards, fields, and streets of America if slavery wasn’t abolished soon.

Peace on earth seemed impossible then, as it does now. Justice for the enslaved and the poor seemed a distant dream.

HM16-black-angelHarvard-educated Sears didn’t mention Jesus by name in his poem, first published in the Christian Register, a Boston publication. Instead, he imagined the sky over Bethlehem filled with angels, feathered and glowing, their “peaceful wings unfurled.” They had a crucial and comforting message, if we’d only listen to their song.

O ye, 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!

Wars still rage and our nation is still divided. We are on a weary road, burdened by a disparity of wealth, a variety of prejudices, anxiety about our sick planet. We do our best to counter the craziness, but despair gets in the way.

HM16-PeopleAnd here comes Christmas. The shepherds of our imaginations will again quake with astonishment, while we, embarrassed, will keep our doubts to ourselves, ashamed to admit that both angels and peace seem merely the whimsical stuff of pageants for innocent children.

But wait! The last verse of Sears’ Christmas song turns the pageant productions upside-down with a dream of radical transformation. It not only conjures a vision of angels singing over our “Babel sounds,” but asks us to imagine a day when the people of earth will sing a song of peace back to the angels.

For lo! the days are hastening on, by prophet seen of old,
When with the ever circling years shall come the time foretold
When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.

Imagine us, singing peace to the angels!  Imagine all the people …

TO GO DEEPER

Hymn background and lyrics:

Hymn history details by C. Michael Hawn:

Videos


Story behind the song/ Ronald Clancy


Sung by Kings College Choir (Tune: Noel)


Sung by Sixpence None the Richer as featured on “Grey’s Anatomy” (2009)


Sung by Mahalia Jackson


Awesome instrumental version as played on Korean TV

Contact

Pam McAllister info@AskHerAboutHymn.com

PREVIOUS HYMN QUESTIONS

  • What Social Gospel hymn calls on progressive Christians to challenge the status quo?
  • What hymn for world peace was written by a US Army veteran and former prisoner of war?
  • What Spanish hymn reminds us that we encounter God on our life journeys through acts of kindness and generosity?

Popular Tags

Advent hymn African-American spiritual Black Lives Matter Brian Wren Brooklyn Botanic Garden C. Austin Miles C. Michael Hawn Charles Wesley Christ Is Alive Deanna Witkowski Diana Butler Bass Doreen Ketchens Easter hymn For the Beauty of the Earth George Whitefield God of Grace and God of Glory Hanson Place Baptist Church Homeless Jesus hymn history hymn meditation hymn meditation by Pam McAllister Hymn Society hymn story hymn story by Pam McAllister I Come to the Garden Alone In the Garden James H. Cone Mahalia Jackson Makes the Heart to Sing Makes the Heart to Sing Jazz Hymns Mark Miller Martin Luther King Martin Luther King assassination Martin Luther King Jr. Mary Magdalene Medina United Methodist Church Pam McAllister Pam McAllister hymn meditation Pam McAllister hymn story Park Slope United Methodist Church Prophet Jeremiah Robert Lowry Shall We Gather At the River Social Gospel The Church of Gethsemane

Copyright © 2025 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in