Rest Beside the Weary Road and Hear the Angels Sing

By Gwen Gustafson-Zook, minister of worship, Goshen College
Reprinted from Advent Devotionals

Into a weary world bombarded with news of injustice and environmental degradation and hatred and war and violence and greed and exploitation and fear, Christ comes. Innocent. Vulnerable. Beautiful.

If I listen closely, I hear the echo of angels: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to all God’s friends.” The words of the familiar carol resonate in my mind as “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” paints a musical picture of angels appearing through cloven skies with peaceful wings unfurled offering hope to a weary world:

Yet with the woes of sin and strife, the world has suffered long;
Beneath the heav’nly hymn have rolled two thousand years of wrong,
And warring humankind hears not the tidings which they bring.
O hush the noise and cease your strife and hear the angels sing.

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 glorious hours come swiftly on the wing,
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.

The angels have spoken: Christ has come. The bread has been made. The wassel has been shared. May we, this day of celebration and hope, find the space to “rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing.”

Hebrews 2:10-18 (NRSV)

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
And again,
“I will put my trust in him.’
And again,
‘Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.