Saturday, December 11, 2010

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is one of my favorite Christmas Carols.  But do we really understand what this first line means?

This 500-year-old song first became popular outside of the church.  It was not written in Latin, but the common language of England.  And the tune was so upbeat that people could dance to it.  No wonder that the reform-minded author, Charles Dickens, mentions it in his wildly popular novel (and one of my favorites as well), A Christmas Carol.  Although he changes the word "rest" to "bless."

Because of its outsider, populist status, it wasn't even published until 19th century Victorian England.

According to Ace Collins in Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (Zondervan, 2001), the word "rest" means "make or keep" and "merry" means "great or mighty." By adding a comma after "merry", the meaning becomes: "God make you mighty, gentlemen."

But I believe this still requires a little further cultural translation so that we can get to the heart of the sentence:

 "God greatly bless and encourage you, gentlemen."

In other words, the story of Christmas, the story of the birth of the Son of God, is an encouraging and uplifting story for all men.  "Be encouraged, gentlemen, for Christ was born on Christmas day, destroying the power of Satan and bringing hope for all mankind."

We have a message of great hope and joy for the world.  What better time to share that message with the world than at Christmas?

"Oh tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy!
Oh tidings of comfort and joy!"
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 13, 2010 at 8:10 AM

    The word merry does not mean mighty. I think it means blessed.

    Check out this link:

    www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/merry-christmas.html

    David Lundblade

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  2. Pastor iMarkDecember 14, 2010 at 1:37 PM

    The word actually has a lot of subtle meanings which include "blessed." That is why I've done a "dynamic equivalent" translation of "God greatly encourage you, gentlemen." It could also be "God greatly bless you, gentlemen." Since to bless someone is to impart favor. But in this case, it has the added idea to uplift. So maybe, "God bless you, gentlemen, with the following uplifting and encouraging thought...that Christ was born to free mankind from sin and Satan."

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  3. AnonymousDecember 15, 2010 at 7:37 PM

    Thanks you,

    I needed to be reminded of how incredibly blessed I am. It is so easy to forget what an awesome God we have during this time of hustle and bustle. I feel ashamed to even admit that. This is the time when it should be easy to remember him. I see now how I've been so focused on gifts and what I "want" for my family and from my family that I forgot what I need. Thanks for reminding me. Everything is just as it should be.

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