It came upon a midnight clear. This was first written as poem by pastor Edmund Spears in 1849. However, the words were adapted to music the following year and the tune concentrates on the imagery of the angels as they appear to the shepherds after Jesus' birth;
'Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying:
'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.''
~Luke 2:13-14~
The lyrics to 'Midnight Clear' mirror this sentiment, but that's not what tugs at me when I think about this song. I think about the atmosphere of that night. How did the air taste? Were people restless as the shadows grew longer, as though they knew everything was about to change? And the moon and stars... were they bright? How bright?
We have moons that are extra bright now and then. There's something other worldly about a clear night like that, with the world bathed in moonlight. A comfort that comes with it, and a curiosity to search the night and its mysteries. That must've been what it was like, the eve of Jesus' birth (in spite of the shepherds' initial terror).
There's a surreal moon in October known as the Hunter's Moon. It's big, beautiful, and orange. People are opt to associate this with monsters, witches, or any other Halloween theme. But when I notice the clarity of a Hunter's Moon, a Beaver Moon, or a Strawberry Moon (Yes, those are real things!) I prefer to parallel it to the night that hope entered the world. Maybe that was God's intention, when He first crafted it.
And anyways, hope lasts long after the moonlight fades.
