Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these words in 1864. His wife had just died in a fire that burned down their house, and the nation was in the third year of the Civil War–to this day, the bloodiest war ever for America. That any man could write such a hymn as this, still sung 150 years later, displays the image of God in us.
And nobody sang it like Burl ives…
So what is the oldest known Christmas hymn? Probably this–Jesus Refulsit Omnium (“Jesus Illuminates All”), written by St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, in 336 A.D. The hymn is preserved in a few ancient books dating from over a thousand years ago.
Sung by the George Watson College Chamber Choir.
This is the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir, from South Africa, singing Go Tell It on the Mountain.
I’ve been trying for 60 years to learn how to snap my fingers, and still haven’t managed it.
Youtube has this mislabeled as Joy to the World, which is what I expected to hear when I clicked it. But what comes out is this beautiful performance, by the kids at Fountainview Academy, of Away in a Manger.
Think about it. To a world boiling over with wickedness, suffering, sin, and death, God sends, to repair it and redeem it… a baby in a manger.
Christianity is an excitingly wild idea. The more you think on it, the wilder it gets. But as C.S. Lewis said, “He’s not a tame lion.”
‘
“Thewhiterabbit” asked for this one, Good Christian Men, Rejoice: with a beautiful performance by the Robert Shaw Chorale.
we’re going to keep on posting Christmas hymns for the full 12 Days of Christmas–so keep your requests coming.
This is a dinosaur I never heard of when I was a kid, probably because its discoverer thought it might’ve been a giant turtle.
All they’ve got are a few bones, including an extra-wide pelvis, and those enormous claws. If you think the reconstruction above looks rather fanciful, welcome to the club. There’s no skull, no teeth, so it’s not possible to guess what this creature ate.
Therizenosaurus means “scythe lizard,” named for the claws. How they were used, who knows? Someone suggested, for digging into termite mounds for yum-yums. But it would take an awful lot of termites to feed this baby, several times the size of a grown man. Maybe Therizenosaurus went around like Freddy Kreuger in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, using the claws to commit murder. We just don’t know. The few fossils that we have come from Mongolia and northern China; and except for the claws, it’s all just bits and pieces.
Bob Bakker, the scientist who did more than any other to popularize the notion of dinosaurs as active, complex, and reasonably intelligent creatures, rather than just these big lumps of stupidity that hung around in swamps, once told me he thought God created dinosaurs because He took delight in them. I would guess God had a blast, creating these. And He is probably amused–tenderly!–by our efforts to figure out the fossils.
Maybe someday He’ll let us see these animals as they really were.
Following a suggestion by our esteemed colleague, “thewhiterabbit,” [you wouldn’t believe the typo I just corrected: “thewhiterabbi”] I’m going to keep posting Christmas music until the 12 days of Christmas are fulfilled. So keep those Christmas hymn requests coming!
While Shepherd Watched came out in 1703, while good Queen Anne was on the throne of England. Lyrics by Nahum Tate, melody by Handel. And if you’d like to know what it sounded like back then, I can’t do better than assign that job to Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band.
One glimpse at the news this morning, and I’m just not ready to stop posting Christmas music. Lord, if we ever needed you, we need you now.
So, here is Do You Hear What I Hear, by the Harry Simeone Chorale.
And again, we’re still taking requests.
We say yes to all requests for Christmas hymns here, so this encore is for Linda: Mary, Did You Know?
If nobody objects, I’d like to keep on posting Christmas hymns for the rest of the week. We’ll never use them all up.
Embarrassment of riches! I’ll never get all the Christmas songs posted that I’d like to post. Oh, well–I’ll just do as many as I can.
So I hope you enjoy this one: What Child Is This?, sung by John Denver. And I’m still taking requests…