After two hymns this week based on the Psalms, today’s hymn, “God we praise you, God we bless you” by Christopher Idle is based on the ‘Te Deum’ – an ancient hymn or canticle traditionally sung at morning prayer. It reminds us of two things. Firstly, that the baby Jesus whose birth we have been celebrating for the last twelve days of Christmas is the same King of Glory in heaven. It is a teaching that has been handed down to us from those who knew Jesus, who had both heard the story of his humble birth (presumably from his mother Mary) and also experienced his transfiguration, resurrection and ascension. When Jesus shocked Jewish leaders by saying things such as “Before Abraham was, I am!” or “He who has seen me has seen the Father”, he was claiming to be God. As C.S.Lewis memorably put it, “a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil.” Christians believe that Jesus was not mad, or evil, but truly God.
The other Christian belief found in the Te Deum is that of the ‘Communion of Saints’. The apostles, martyrs, prophets and saints – and for that matter anyone who has died believing in Christ – are, we believe, not only alive in heaven (whatever that might mean) but are aware of what is happening on earth and able to pray to God on our behalf.
These two beliefs are of course ‘acts of faith’ that cannot be proven scientifically or evidentially. But if you hold to them, particularly at this time of lockdown when many people do not see others for days or weeks at a time, it can be a comfort that there is this ‘invisible cloud of witnesses’ along with Jesus Christ himself, who know what we are going through and are constantly praying for us. The hymn ends with these words –“King enthroned above all praises, save your people, God, we pray!”