HYMN DAY! I’m not done with Christmas yet, so…”O Little Town of Bethlehem” by Phillips Brooks. O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light The hopes and…
Word of the Father appeared in flesh in the form of a tiny, helpless, humble baby. Often artists paint a halo around the infant Jesus in the manger, a reference to His holiness. Did you know that you, as a believer, are also holy? The Bible calls us to holiness–being…
You’ll see a lot of evergreens this week. Evergreens always remind me of eternal life, and the thought of eternal life always brings to mind this very familiar verse. God’s gift of Jesus was beyond priceless. His precious Son, sent to be our sin sacrifice, entered this world so that…
Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours! One final hymn… William Harold Neidinger wrote both the words and music for “The Birthday of a King.” ’Twas a humble birthplace, but oh! how much God gave to us that day! 1 In the little village of Bethlehem, There lay a Child one…
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! In 1739, Charles Wesley’s poem beginning “Hark! how all the welkin rings/Glory to the King of Kings” appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems. Initially the words were paired with a slow, solemn tune. A co-worker changed the opening to “Hark! the herald angels sing…” A hundred years…
Perhaps the most familiar CHRISTmas carol of all time was a collaboration between parish priest Joseph Mohr, who wrote the words, and one of his parishioners, a guitarist named Franz Gruber. It was sung on Christmas Eve of 1818 in the little German village of Oberndorf. I remember singing it…
Originally written in Latin as Adeste Fideles, this CHRISTmas carol has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (with the earliest copies of the hymn all bearing his signature), John Reading, and King John IV of Portugal. The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a…
My guess is you’re familiar with this carol, but I wonder if you’ve sung all five verses. Edmund Sears penned the five-stanza poem in 1849 at the encouragement of his friend, who was the parish priest. The words were put to a Mendelssohn tune a year later and became a…
“It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” written by Edmund H. Sears and put to music by Richard Storrs Willis, tells such a wonderful story of prophecy fulfilled. 1 It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of…
Joseph Simpson Cook, a Methodist preacher, wrote the words to “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child.” Ernest MacMillan arranged a 14th century carol to go with them. Such a Babe in such a place, can He be the Savior? Yes, He is! And He is MY Savior. 1 Gentle Mary laid…
