If Charles Wesley Were Alive Today...
presented at the 2010 Christmas Party
The creative process, like everything else in life, is rarely successful on the first try.
Even those who write Christmas carols make mistakes, I suppose, not just with the wording of the lyrics or the tone of the music, but with the very idea or spirit of what Christmas means. Yet they learn, line upon line, precept upon precept. They throw out their mistakes, they try again, and finally, eventually, sometimes, they get it right.
If Charles Wesley were alive today, I imagine he would get the first verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing right on about his 4th try… The first time he would think Christmas is about gifts under the Christmas tree:
(Singing as he composes:)
Hark the Walmart Greeters greet, Bring your credit cards… no…
Hark the Costco angels speak,
Bring your debit card this week,
At the mall the shopping’s wild
How high are the presents piled?
Joyful clothes, designer labels,
Video games upon the tables…
With the trucks of UPS, no…
With deliveries of Fed Ex
All the world… All mankind is truly blessed;
Hark the Costco angels speak,
Bring your debit card this week.
Then he would realize that’s too commercial – and he would throw it away and try again…
He would think about how Christmas is made joyful by friends & family …
Hark Hermione angels tweet,
(Let’s see, how can we rhyme this?)
Hark Hermione angels tweet,
Friends on Facebook are… so sweet!
Peaceful now… Peace on earth now they can get
WiFi-accessed Internet;
Joyful with their iPad scriptures
Digitized with… family pictures;
Texting by hand-held device
Makes them virtual… and nice;
Hark Hermione angels tweet,
Friends on Facebook are so sweet!
That would be better, but it still wouldn’t be completely the spirit of Christmas. So he would throw it away and try again… He would realize that the first six letters of Christmas tell us what it’s all about… The nativity, Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus, wise men, shepherds, all that.
Hark, th’Angelic Choirs chime, Fullness of Meridian Time;
No… too complicated…
Hark the angels sing out loud;
What just happened makes us proud;
Ma-Rée gave birth…
Mary gáve birth…
Hail the birth of God’s own son
Glory to the Chosen One.
Swaddled in a manger bin,
(There was no room at the Inn),
He’ll grow strong in Nazareth,
Learning to shut down Old Man Death.
Hark, the Herald Angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King.
By George, I think we’ve almost got it…
It could use some final polishing. Would all of you help me sing it the right way? The first verse of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing:”
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Dick Hacken,
presented 2 December 2010
P.S.: Here's the verse I didn't sing, in order not to brand myself as a dreaded "liberal:"
Hark the frightened angels shout,
Let’s keep all the strangers out.
Peace on earth is clear and free
If they could all be just like me.
Some are speaking foreign tongues,
And they breathe with pagan lungs…
With ideas so plainly wrong
We can’t put up with them for long…
Hark the frightened angels shout,
Let’s keep all the strangers out.