Carols and Lessons for AdventÖrnek

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

SING

God rest you merry, gentlemen,

let nothing you dismay,

remember Christ our Savior

was born on Christmas Day

to save us all from Satan’s power

when we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy,

O tidings of comfort and joy.

From God our heavenly Father

a blessed angel came,

and unto certain shepherds

brought tidings of the same,

how that in Bethlehem was born

the son of God by name.

Now to the Lord sing praises,

all you within this place,

and with true love and gentleness

each other now embrace;

this holy tide of Christmas

all others doth deface.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything. (Philippians 4:5–6)

To understand the message of this jaunty old English carol, the most important thing to do is to observe the comma in the title. It’s not “God rest you, merry gentlemen.” It’s “God rest you merry, gentlemen.” The gentlemen—and gentle ladies are included, this being 18th-century English terminology—are not merry, as if they’ve had a little too much Christmas cheer. Nor is God being asked to make them rest, as if they’ve all been dancing too hard. The blessing that the carol asks is, “(May) God rest (make) you merry (happy), gentle people all.”

Why should we be joyful, no matter what our circumstances? Because Christmas reminds us of the Good News, “tidings of comfort and joy.” We have been given a Savior, and he changes everything. The apostle wrote a wonderfully ambiguous phrase to the Christians in Philippi: “The Lord is at hand.” The Lord is at hand, meaning he is about to return? Or, the Lord is at hand, meaning he is close by us? The answer is, both. That’s why we can “rejoice in the Lord,” why we need not be anxious about anything. Cares may come and go, but happiness will be forever, because Jesus has come once and is coming again some day soon. Meanwhile, because he is close to us now through his Spirit, we can know joy, and even happiness, despite our sorrows.

Someone once asked an old preacher if Jesus ever laughed. “I don’t know,” he replied, “but he sure fixed me so I could.”