Joseph J. Bucci ——Bio and Archives--December 21, 2024

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It’s not always how you start, but how you finish that people remember. A good example of this is found in a famous American Football game. In Super Bowl 51 (Known by the Roman numerals LI), the Atlanta Falcons got out to a seemingly insurmountable lead over the New England Patriots and their legendary quarterback Tom Brady, 28-3. With a stout defense, many fans were calling the contest over and declaring Atlanta the winner. But they underestimated the resolve of the Patriots and Tom Brady. You probably know how the story ends. It’s not how you start but how you finish that matters.

A unique example of this same principle is found in the story of a famous Christmas hymn. When originally composed by Charles Wesley, the poem was entitled, “Hark How All the Welkin Rings,” with the word “welkin” being an old English term for the sky or heavens (Hymncharts Team, 2022). The poem was matched with a somber tune and 10 stanzas – not very exciting! The carol was one of some 6,000 hymns that Charles Wesley would write in his illustrious career (Longanecker, 2016).

More than a decade later, it was George Whitefield, the famous preacher, who made some tweaks to the first line of the hymn, to the great dismay of the Wesley brothers (Hymncharts Team, 2022). While Wesley‘s original intent was to focus on the heavens giving praise to God, as in Psalm 19:1 (“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork”); Whitefield rewrote the hymn with a vision of humanity joining in the angelic prayer. This aligns with the picture of the shepherds on the hillside, who heard the angelic voices and then rushed toward the manger scene and gave glory to God themselves (Luke 2:8-18).

It would take another 100 years for this tune to become the familiar chorus that we sing today. It took an insightful musician named William Hayman Cummings........

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