From my teen years, whenever my home-town church would have a hymn sing — even in July — I remember calling out from one of the back rows the request to sing Joy to the World (hymnary.org):
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let all their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.
One of the joys of the Painters-Prophets-Poets conference in Oklahoma City this year was meeting Hannah Anderson. She was one of the conference organizers along with Travis Lowe, and a most able facilitator and an articulate, sympathetic interviewer. I then began to read her books of nature writing, from Humble Roots to Turning of the Days; her beautifully-illustrated children’s book The World God Made; and her Bible study Life Under the Sun (sometimesalight.com). Across all these genres, Hannah writes as an attentive observer, a deep listener to the voices of those around her — including the voices of nature. She gives voice to creation’s praise and grief, far as the curse is found, hearing all their songs resound. Through her writing, we have the privilege of seeing through her eyes and hearing with her, as did the Psalmist, the music of the spheres, a harmony of the book of God’s works and the book of God’s Living Word.
I find there is never time enough between Thanksgiving and Epiphany to reflect adequately upon the mystery of the Incarnation. This is why I make a point every year to make room for silence in which to read and re-read the books that help me more fully enter in to the mystery. Some I read every year, like Brother Benny’s volume on the nativity in his Jesus of Nazareth trilogy and Wintersong by Madeleine L’Engle and Luci Shaw. Other classics rotate through the years, like Bonhoeffer, God in the Manger; Malcolm Guite, Waiting on the Word; and Tolkien, Letters from Father Christmas. These reappear on a regular basis alongside something new. Last year’s something new included Amy Orr-Ewing, Mary’s Voice; Emily Hunter McGowin, Christmas; and Fleming Rutledge, Epiphany.
This year the something new is Hannah’s 2022 volume Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World. So far I’ve only read the introduction and two chapters, but I am loving it. Candace and I decided to make it a read-aloud this year.
In these brief reflections, Hannah tells the story of the nativity “through the lens of the natural world,” to “consider how not just we, but all of creation, waits for our Creator King.” As she scours the natural world around her for the particular ways we experience nature in the winter holiday season, she wonders “if we’re really scouring for hope… like the earth itself, we’re waiting, holding our breath in anticipation, longing to believe that something more is happening, that something more is coming.” For Hannah, nature is our “partner in hope,” an “unexpected ally in the work of hope.” She explains:
“I want to invite you into this story afresh. To consider the Christmas narrative from a slightly different perspective — to think of all the ways Jesus’ coming changed and will change the world. To truly believe that in response to the Savior’s reign, ‘fields and floods/Rocks, hills and plains/Repeat the sounding joy.'”
Did the Incarnation change the world? In my early teens, whether staying up into the wee hours on Christmas Eve to decorate our living room or singing my favorite carol in the summertime, even then I knew this same mystery was calling me. It is a joy to follow with Hannah on that continuing journey.
