Because Christmas is coming, I’ve decided to take a break from my daily review of modern worship songs and focus on Christmas hymns for a month. I’ve started with Advent.
Advent hymns emphasize waiting, longing, and preparation, while Christmas hymns celebrate fulfilment, joy, and Christ’s birth.
Today’s hymn is Hills of the North
I think that I heard this one for the first time three years ago at the Advent Procession in Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick – or perhaps when I discovered songs from the New English Hymnal on YouTube around the same time. I was intrigued by the title.
It seems strange to sing about hills rejoicing. But I remember singing “And the trees of the fields shall clap their hands” back in my early days as an evangelical Christian. That song is actually based on a passage from Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:12
You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
And where are the Hills of the North? England perhaps? But I think that the hymn speaks of the whole world, so maybe Greenland is meant. It’s a 19th Century hymn that was originally written for missionary use. It calls different regions of the world (North, South, East, West) to rejoice and look forward to the coming of Christ. It’s often sung at advent.
The actual word “advent” appears in the first verse. It points to the second advent, with victory for those who welcome Jesus and judgement for those who don’t. It’s as if creation is awaiting the return of Christ. And that’s touched on in the book of Romans.
Hills of the North, rejoice;
River and mountain spring,
Hark to the advent voice;
Valley and lowland, sing;
Though absent long, your Lord is nigh;
He judgment brings and victory.
Romans 8:18-23
8 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Most of us believe that Paul is speaking in poetic terms here, though even some atheist physicists argue consciousness could be woven into the fabric of the universe, not just brains. But I’m not keen on weaving speculation into Christian doctrine, so I prefer to think of hills rejoicing in purely poetic terms 😀.
Isles of the southern seas,
Deep in your coral caves
Pent be each warring breeze,
Lulled be your restless waves:
He comes to reign with boundless sway,
And makes your wastes His great highway.
Lands of the East, awake,
Soon shall your sons be free;
The sleep of ages break,
And rise to liberty.
On your far hills, long cold and gray,
Has dawned the everlasting day.
Shores of the utmost West,
Ye that have waited long,
Unvisited, unblest,
Break forth to swelling song;
High raise the note, that Jesus died,
Yet lives and reigns, the Crucified.
Shout, while ye journey home;
Songs be in every mouth;
Lo, from the North we come,
From East, and West, and South.
City of God, the bond are free,
We come to live and reign in thee!
The hymn is basically a geographical survey of a world that’s awaiting the coming of Christ. And perhaps he was also thinking in terms of the coming of the gospel. As it happens, in the 20th and 21st Centuries, Christianity has been growing at a more rapid rate around the world than it is in the UK, the home of the writer. And many from distant lands are now evangelizing the UK and Ireland. It’s good to be reminded that Christianity isn’t a Western thing. It originated in Israel but it’s sphere of influenced has moved around the world. Let’s ask Microsoft Co-pilot for 10 countries experiencing the most rapid growth:
- Nepal
- China
- United Arab Emirates
- Qatar
- Cambodia
- Burkina Faso
- South Sudan
- Ethiopia
- Tanzania
- Nigeria
I get different answers each time I ask, but it’s good to know that a growing number of people are responding to the gospel message. Nominal Christianity is declining in Europe and America, but true believers are probably happy to see that happening. It’s never a good thing to rely on culture, tradition or military or social pressure. The gospel needs to be preached, and people need to respond from the heart as individuals. So, there might not be a huge amount of genuine believers in any country, but the key thing is that people have the opportunity to hear and to respond.
Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Here are some other missionary hymns:
Hibernia Gospel 