The Songs Tell the Story: A Family Advent DevotionalSample

The Song that ’s Not about “Gold in Them Thar Hills”

This Christmas carol was written by an American pastor in 1849. Reverend Edmund Hamilton Sears only wrote two hymns in his life. One of them was “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”

Reverend Sears lived in New England during a chaotic time in America’s history. The Gold Rush had caused many men to leave their families behind and go to California because they were hoping to find gold and get rich.

History also records the mid-1800s as the time of the Industrial Revolution. Our country began to manufacture all kinds of materials in mass quantities using machines. These machines required skilled workers, and many families left their farms and moved to the big cities. The cities quickly became overcrowded as more factories were built.

American culture started to change as well. People didn’t live with the same priorities of church and family that had once characterized the farming communities. Rather, they began to compete for jobs and gold. Those priorities caused Reverend Sears to grow concerned for American families and their faith and write these words of the hymn:

And 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.

Oh rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

American culture is still hectic, and many are competing for better jobs, more money, or greater popularity. Christmas can be an especially busy season of rushing around and spending money on what we hope will be perfect gifts.

Reverend Sears would suggest we sing his hymn and remember God’s priorities at Christmas. Jesus was and is the only perfect Christmas gift. Let’s “rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.”

What message did the angels sing?

“Peace on the earth, good will to men.”

Those are God’s Christmas priorities.

Will you make them yours?