Christmas (Proper III) / Navidad (III) + 12.25.17

(https://dailytheology.org/2014/12/31/
the-seventh-day-of-christmas-sing-a-new-song/)

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Isaías 52:7–10; Salmo 98; Hebreos 1:1–4, (5–12); Juan 1:1–14)

¡Canten al Señor cántico Nuevo! Sing to the Lord a new song!
De todas mis memorias de las misas de Navidad en mi niñez, siempre recuerdo cantar. Cantar el largo “glo-o-o-oria” de “Ángeles cantando están.” Singing the long “glo-o-o-oria” of “Angels we have heard on high” and so many other wonderful songs. Los villancicos de Navidad son buenísimo y aquí he aprendido muchos más, como “Burrito de Belén” y “Peces en el Rio” y “En el taller de Nazaret.” Tantas canciones bonitas. There are so many wonderful, heartwarming songs at Christmas, and I do not know about you, but I am always ready to sing anew these old songs of Christmas. The old songs made new each year in joy. Cada año las canciones me parecen nuevas, nuevas en gozo.

In the past, God spoke to us through the prophets. And now, God has come to us in a completely new way, in the form of a son. Dios, quien nos hablaba antes tras los profetas, ahora nos ha visitado con un hijo. In something as lovely, confusing and grand as in the form of a human-divine relationship. We love God, we wrestle with God, and we know that God will never abandon us. Amamos a Dios y luchamos con Dios, y sabemos que Dios nunca nos abandonara.

And that is good reason to sing a new song today! ¡Esta es la razón para cantar una canción nuevo hoy día!

In the context of Psalm 98, the psalmist gives thanks for a military victory. En el contexto del salmo, el salmista celebra una victoria militar. No estamos seguros por cual se celebra. We don’t know which particular victory is celebrated, but we do know that we give thanks for the many events in history in which God has saved us. Celebremos tras la historia todos los momentos en que Dios nos ha salvado.[1]

This new song, shir chadesh in Hebrew, is also referred to in Isaiah 42 when God restores Judean exiles to their home. En Isaías capítulo 42 escuchamos también de esta nueva canción en el regreso de los exilios de Judea a casa, una obra de Dios.[2]

And we also hear of this new song in Psalm 40:

I waited and waited for the Lord,
     he inclined and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the desolate pit,
     out of the miry swamp.[3] (vs. 1-2a)

Salmo 40 continua así:

Afirmó mis pies sobre una roca;
dio firmeza a mis pisadas.
^3 (4) Hizo brotar de mis labios un nuevo canto,
un canto de alabanza a nuestro Dios (DHH). (vs. 2b-3)

Un nuevo canto, porque la fosa mortal representa el más extremo peligro. We sing a new song because we have been saved from the deep pit. That is to say, the most “extreme danger.”[4] What is this danger? Yes, it is sin. Sometimes it is physical salvation. Este puede expresar la salvación de pecado, o un rescate físico por Dios. But mostly it is a reminder that we are not alone in this world. That we accomplish nothing alone but also that God does not abandon us. Es un recuerdo que no estamos solos en este mundo. Que no hacemos nada a solas y tampoco nos abandona Dios.

In all salvation history, we have many reasons to sing a new song. Tenemos tantas razones para cantar un cantico nuevo.

The other day I saw a funny hymn book, called a Hyrr book. It is written for women’s rights and is admittedly a bit blue at times. But it had a funny version of Good King Wenceslas, and the first verse goes thus:

“Good Queen Wenceslaus looked out

On the feast of Stephen

Then she thought, “Now, hang about

Why’s this feast called ‘Stephen’?”

Surely there were other Saints

They could name it after?

Lucy, Laura, Abigail?

Mary, for that matter?”[5]

Esta canción obviamente es un poco chistoso porque es sobre como siempre cantemos de hombres en muchos del los villancicos de Navidad, pero en realidad se trata de como las canciones de Navidad tienen que estar más inclusivos de las mujeres.

Sometimes Christmas songs are silly but with a message, like this one, and sometimes they are solemn and grand. A veces las canciones navideñas son muy solemnes y a veces son cómicas pero siempre son importantes para cantar en esta época. But it is important to keep singing them this season as we remember that God has acted and continues to act to outshine the negative effects of sin and death in our world. Cantemos para recordarnos que Dios nos ha salvado. Dios continua de traer nueva salvación y luz a nuestro mundo. Ha brillado una luz en las tinieblas. Y las tinieblas no han podido apagarla. Nothing can shut out that light.
May we find a new song to sing this Christmas and into the coming year, facing what may come with God, reborn, in our hearts. Que cantemos un cantico nuevo esta Navidad y en el año entrante, sabiendo que Dios estará con nosotros, pase lo que pase, renovado y renacido en nuestros corazones. Amen.

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[1] Rolf Jacobson, “Commentary on Psalm 98,” for December 25, 2017, found at: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3509.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid, translation by Rolf Jacobson.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Tom Houser, Christopher Keatinge, Augustine Cerf and Laura Nunneley, Hyrr Book (Refuge, 2017): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vus6CYSP8rsdcL5h1UxzxXK4dmdwpQDS/view.