You might remember this carol in another guise: Cat Stevens singing Morning Has Broken, back in the 1970s.
But these Christmas lyrics were originally in Gaelic, published in Scotland in the 19th century and later translated into English, and the melody is traditional Irish. It was adapted for the original Morning Has Broken in 1931–so what we were hearing forty-some years ago was already forty years old and then some.
Laura requested this one, and I chose this Celtic Woman version–O Holy Night.
This is the answer, this is the message, this is the meaning: this is the truth.
It might be said that this is the quintessential Advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel–here performed by a traditional choir in a lovely and rather complicated musical arrangement.
Hey, everybody–where are your Christmas music requests? We had a lot of fun with that last year! Let’s proclaim the coming of the Lord!
An old, old Christmas carol, first published in the 16th century, performed the old-fashioned way by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band–God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
Ladies and gents, it’s December 1 and time and start getting in the mood for Christmas. But of course we have something way more important to do than that: to proclaim the Lordship of Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to testify to all the world that yes, yes, yes–He came in the flesh, and He will come again.
So come on, let’s whoop it up! Let’s have your requests for Christmas music. Come on now, let’s get busy!
Well, I’m having technical prombles all of a sudden, so I didn’t get the hymn I thought I’d posted. But the one I did get is so gorgeous, I don’t have the heart to replace it. So let’s see if I can give you “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” with this link: cross my fingers, and here goes.
Will this work? If not, I give up for now.
Ta-dah!
Here’s another one from “jessicafischerqueen,” via my chess page: Elvis Presley singing Silent Night. Beautiful! Just beautiful.
And we have an Advent hymn request from Laura: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, written by Charles Wesley, published in 1745, and here performed by the St. John’s College Choir, Cambridge.
It can also be sung to the Welsh melody, “Hyfrydol,” one of my favorites–but this is quite nice, wouldn’t you say?
Based on Psalm 68, Let God Arise in Majesty first appeared in 1567. Elizabeth I was Queen of England, and it would be ten years yet before Francis Drake set out on his circumnavigation of the world.
We are now open to reader requests for Advent and Christmas music–hymns, I mean. Not I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Claus or anything like that. Don’t be bashful. We want your hymn requests!
And let’s get our Christmas celebration under way! With Away in a Manger, sung by John Denver–beautiful.
Thanks to our esteemed colleague, “Jessicafischerqueen,” for posting this on my chess page.
Just like last year, everybody, I’ll be taking your requests for Christmas hymns and posting them here. Make as many as you want!
A post-Thanksgiving tradition, here at Chez Leester, is to watch Miracle on 34th Street: not a remake, but the 1947 classic starring John Payne, Maureen O’Hara, and little Natalie Wood, with Gene Lockhart as the beleaguered judge and, of course, Ed Gwenn as Kris Kringle, the man who says he’s Santa Claus.
The Book of Hebrews tells us that faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That’s what this movie is about–faith. And it’s very cleverly done! The more you think about it, the more you really don’t know whether Mr. Kringle is indeed the one and only Santa Claus, or just a sweet old man with a harmless delusion. Writer Valentine Davies kept the question open.
This movie always makes me wonder what self-proclaimed “realists”–like Maureen O’Hara’s character–believe in. It’s obvious that for all their insistence on “absolute truth,” they believe in their own set of fairy tales: Big Science, Big Government, Man-made Climate Change, perfection created by imperfect human beings, and all the rest of that humanistic tommyrot. And in so doing they impoverish themselves–and can never reach out to claim the blessings only obtainable by faith.
The movie limits itself to “faith” in Santa Claus, faith in the power of love and generosity, and faith in one another: but of course we know that true faith leads us to treasures greater by far than these.
And it is the gift of God.
O Lord our God, bless this coming Christmas and make it glorious and mighty to dispel the darkness of this age, to hearten your people, to open the eyes of the spiritually blind:
To proclaim Jesus Christ the Son of God, our salvation and our hope, who by the sovereign power of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption;
By whose stripes we are healed;
By whose death and resurrection we live!
O Lord our God, make us tireless and courageous in the service of Jesus Christ Our King–Amen.