Let’s start off the day with O, Little Town of Bethlehem, as sung by one of our national treasures, Nat King Cole. This is a reader request.
I have to get out of here in a hurry this morning to do some Christmas shopping. In the meantime, I’ll try to find something nice to post here this afternoon.
Yes, the real world news is uniformly depressing and bad. Anyone who expects anything good out of our current crop of misrulers is not in his right mind.
But Christmas is coming…
By reader request, Adeste Fideles–the original Latin version of the carol we also know as O Come, All Ye Faithful. In some hymnals this melody is also used for the old Portuguese hymn, How Firm a Foundation.
I have to go to the nursing home today, but hopefully I’ll be back with more later.
Sing louder, everybody–the King of Kings has come!
And who but the Lord Our God would have ever thought of having the King come into the world by way of a manger?
By reader request, here’s The Little Drummer Boy–complete with real, live drummer boy. Wow, can that kid sing!
Into this evil age, into this fallen world, comes Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Sing louder, Christians! For our redemption is at hand.
By reader request, here’s Joy to the World, with printed lyrics.
Did you know those lyrics were by Isaac Watts, early in the 19th century? I didn’t know that.
I remember we always used to sing this in Spanish class, to Spanish lyrics, back when public schools allowed the celebration of Christmas: Paz en el mundo, pax y amor…
The times are evil, O Lord: but Christ is come into the world, to cast out the prince of this world.
Move us to sing louder!
By reader request, here is God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. I picked this version of the 18th century hymn because I like the sound of it, I like the snowscape, and I like the easy-to-follow printed lyrics, which show how closely this Christmas carol is based on Luke Chapter 2.
I will continue to post hymns and Christmas carols by request, so don’t be bashful–let me know if there’s one you’d like to have posted here.
Let’s start getting into the mood for Christmas–not to make it an idol, certainly not as some kind of generic “happy holiday” whose name we must not mention: but as our glorious proclamation of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ as an historical fact–a thing that really happened.
I love this hymn. Our junior high school band used to do a fine rendition of it. Like everyone else in my home room, I was drafted into the school choir willy-nilly–just as my voice was changing, too–but I dearly loved to listen to the band practice this melody.
On this day Earth shall ring–amen!
This hymn of Thanksgiving came out of the horrors of the Thirty Years War. It was written by Pastor Martin Rickart in the town of Eilenburg, circa 1637. In that year the plague struck Eilenburg and the pastor had to conduct 4,000 funerals, including his wife’s.
And yet he found it in his soul to write a hymn thanking God for His many blessings.
This is mighty faith indeed.
This old Dutch hymn, which has become traditionally associated with our Thanksgiving holiday, was first sung in 1597, giving thanks to God for victory in a battle for religious freedom. We may someday use it again for that purpose.
Well, Patty and I now have to head down the Garden State Parkway for Thanksgiving dinner at my sister’s house. Pray for us to come back alive! Affectionately nicknamed the Road of Death, the Parkway is incessantly under construction and relies on high-speed traffic and heart-stoppingly narrow lanes…
Gotta stop now, I seem to be hyperventilating.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
I don’t know about you, but I could use a hymn right about now. This hymn, in fact.
I have family things going on that I haven’t been able to write about yet. Maybe tomorrow. Things happen. Nothing that anyone can help, or avoid.
So now, now, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Hard times are here for Christians, and harder times are coming. We’ll need courage to get through them. We’ll need faith.
But greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. God loved the world, and sent His Son to save it. We belong to Him, and He will not lose us.
This is an ancient hymn, with lyrics by Isaac Watts. Listen to this hymn: listen to the words, and don’t be daunted by the video.
Those stones mark victory.