I’ve always found the last two verses of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” to be some of the most arresting imagery found in Christmas carol. And that’s true evenmore so this year than in past ones.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The World has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousan years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song that they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When, with the ever-circling years,
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendours fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

In our prayers this holy night, let us pray that the promise of the final verse becomes real in our time.

Merry Christmas to all as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, the Prince of Peace.