How old is
Christmas? It shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the ‘traditional’ songs
remembered at Christmas time is many centuries old, with an origin that recognizes
no particular individual as its author. “The First Noel” may not have had arms
and legs or a beating heat, but it nevertheless travelled as if it had life and
a direction where its message could be proclaimed. It was like hearing someone telling
a story, bit by bit with each verse of the nine stanzas. What did those simple
shepherds think and then do, and what were the far-reaching consequences of
their vision? These were the thoughts of whomever wrote this ancient poem-song
to commemorate a unique event in human-divine history.
One word in
the song’s three-word title suggests at least a bit of the origin of “The First
Noel”, though its complete story remains obscured. ‘Noel’ is a French word derived
from Latin meaning ‘birth’ or ‘new’, or in combination ‘birthday’ -- a new
birth marks a person’s birthday. Thus, the poem and its author ostensibly were French,
perhaps during the period between the 13th and 17th Centuries.
Sometime in this 500-year span, the poem made its way across the English Channel,
and took up residence in far southwest England, reportedly in Cornwall. From examination
of the poem’s nine verses, one can surmise that the Christ’s birth story as
related in Matthew’s and Luke’s versions of the event was the root source for
the author. He knew about shepherds watching over sheep and seeing a star (vv.1-2),
about wise men from the East approaching to visit the newborn babe (v. 3) and
offer him gifts (v.6), about Bethlehem (v.4) as His birthplace, and the humble
nature of His entry into the earth as a human (vv.5,7). It wasn’t enough for
this author to recite the story that gives the holiday season its focus,
however. He wrote verses 8 and 9 too, although they are not often sung, to indicate
how to respond to what God did some 33 years after the scenes described in verses
1-7. This poet believed in the import of the culmination of Christ’s earthly ministry,
referring to blood (v.8) and death (v.9) and how they no longer spell futility
for the believer’s end-of-life experience. That’s a worthy conclusion to a
great story, probably one reason why this Christmas song has been around for centuries.
The story
still rings true. Christmas returns each year, as certain as the change of
seasons and the rising and setting of the sun. His incredible, unique birth
stands out, and would be a portent of the rest of His mortal life. His entry
was unique, and so would be His exit, giving the rest of us a focal point. Don’t
marvel at just His birth, the author of “The First Noel” reminds us. No one
arrives here on planet Earth without some sense of the miraculous. I have a
connection to Him because I too was born, even if my birth was heralded by no
angels and no Magi. Can you say today that your end, your death, will likewise
connect with His? I sure want mine to do so.
See more
information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of
Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J.
Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; and Amazing
Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck,
Kregel Publications, 1990.
Also see this link, showing all nine original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/f/r/s/frstnoel.htm
See here also for background on the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Noel
