I love this modern Christmas Carol by Matt Papa, Keith Getty, Matt Boswell and Stuart Townend. I always imagine that this would be the sung throughout the scene of the wisemen being told about Jesus by the angels, and then travelling to Bethlehem to meet them all. I’m sure you’ll be jumping up and singing this cheerful one!

Sing we the song of Emmanuel
This the Christ who was long foretold
Lo in the shadows of Bethlehem
Promise of dawn now our eyes behold
God Most High in a manger laid
Lift your voices and now proclaim
Great and glorious Love has come to us
Join now with the hosts of heaven

Come we to welcome Emmanuel
King who came with no crown or throne
Helpless He lay the Invincible
Maker of Mary now Mary’s son
O what wisdom to save us all
Shepherds sages before Him fall
Grace and majesty what humility
Come on bended knee adore Him

Go spread the news of Emmanuel
Joy and peace for the weary heart
Lift up your heads for your King has come
Sing for the Light overwhelms the dark
Glory shining for all to see
Hope alive let the gospel ring
God has made a way He will have the praise
Tell the world His name is Jesus
Glory shining for all to see
Hope alive let the gospel ring
God has made a way He will have the praise
Tell the world His name is Jesus

Gloria, gloria!

Born in Bristol in 1837, Anglican layman William Chatterton Dix was the son of a surgeon who had also written a biography on Thomas Chatterton, the poet, and also the reason for William’s middle name. Dix became very sick and was in bed for a long time recovering. He had plenty of time to pray and read the Word of God and from this experience his life was truly changed for the better. He began to write hymns, three we may be familiar with today: As with Gladness, Men of Old, Alleluia! Sing to Jesus and What Child is This? This song was written as The Manger Song, first published in 1865. The tune is to the ever-popular Greensleeves, written a full century before Dix’s hymn¹. Below is a version by Southern Seminary I think you’ll enjoy 🙂

What Child is this Who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud
The Babe, the Son of Mary

Why lies He in such mean estate
Where ox and lamb are feeding?
Good Christian, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through
The cross be borne for me, for you
Hail, hail the Word made flesh
The Babe, the Son of Mary

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh
Come peasant, king to own Him
The King of kings salvation brings
Let loving hearts enthrone Him

Raise, raise a song on high
The virgin sings her lullaby
Joy, joy for Christ is born
The Babe, the Son of Mary

¹http://www.hopeinthehealing.com/2014/12/03/what-child-is-this-story-behind-carol/

Taken from her Advent album, A Seed, A Sunrise, Caroline Cobb draws heavily from Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets as well as the gospel narratives, and explores the longing of Advent, the joy of Christmas, and the hope of Jesus’s return. This song, and the whole album, is rich with biblical imagery, artful arrangements, and poetic lyrics to help the Church rehearse and remember God’s Story.

Oh righteous branch from Jesse’s root,
Please come and bring your kingdom.
The lion dwelling with the lamb,
Bring peace and life and freedom.
Oh Son of David come to rule,
And reign in us forever.
Come write your law upon our hearts,
And keep us like a shepherd.

Refrain
Hallelujah, Jesus we wait for you
Hallelujah, Jesus come soon come soon

Messiah come, your Spirit give,
Turn stony hearts to flesh;
Redeem us from captivity,
The power of sin and death.

Refrain

At last, at last the morning comes,
With healing in its wings;
We’ll leap like calves loosed from their stalls,
For you have done great things –
Yes, you have done great things!

Refrain

The words of this carol are translated from a Greek Christmas Eve service of worship used as early as the fourth or fifth century called the Liturgy of St. James. Some scholars believe this carol dates back to AD 60, the same time that Paul was writing Romans. This liturgy is believed to be perhaps the oldest liturgy developed for the church and is still used today in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was translated into English in 1864.¹ Below is a soulful version that aims to capture the awe and wonder of the incarnation.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly-minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heav’nly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the pow’rs of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
“Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Lord Most High!”

¹page 38 – Leeman, D. and Leeman, B., 2022. Our Hymns, Our Heritage: A Student Guide to Songs of the Church

This modern Christmas song by Sovereign Grace is one of my favourites; seeping with so many scripture references and prophecies, its a blessing to sing of our Saviour who is a fulfilment of all God told us would come.

The prophets had glimpsed and
Te angels had watched with awe;
The unfolding plans of our
Faithful, redeeming God.
What they longed for we have seen;
What was promised we believe.

Refrain
Hope of the Ages, Isaiah’s great light
Abraham’s offspring
Blessing of Jacob, Judah’s might
Hope of the Ages, David’s true Son
Desire of nations, promised salvation
God with us.`

The vision once clouded has now
To our hearts appeared;
Once shrouded in myst’ry,
Redemption has been made clear.
Our Messiah now has come;
Word made Flesh, the saving One

Refrain

All hail the One now revealed to the world
In Bethlehem born to a young virgin girl
Lamb without blemish yet cruelly betrayed
Who cried, “It is finished!”
And rose from the grave.
The Father’s great gift and
The proof of His love;
Hope of the Ages, our God here with us

This hymn, originally in Latin, takes us back over 1,200 years to monastic life in the 8th- or 9th-century. Seven days before Christmas Eve monasteries would sing the “O antiphons” in anticipation of Christmas Eve when the eighth antiphon, “O Virgo virginum” (“O Virgin of virgins”) would be sung before and after Mary’s canticle, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46b-55). The Latin metrical form of the hymn was composed as early as the 12th century. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), the famous architect of the Oxford movement, discovered the Latin hymn in the appendix of an early 18th-century manuscript, “Psalterium Cationum Catholicorum,” with a refrain. Neale, a translator of early Greek and Latin hymns, included it in his influential collection, Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851)¹.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appears.

Refrain
Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel 
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free 
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.

Refrain

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Refrain

O come, Thou Key of David, come 
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, 
And close the path to misery.

Refrain

O come, Adonai, Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Refrain

¹https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-o-come-o-come-emmanuel

Resound Worship is a collective of British worship songwriters, established in 2006, seeking to resource the church with songs that engage heart, mind and soul – songs we love to sing, that deeply feed us¹. I recently found this group and song, and love the chord progressions in the verses that really help tell the story of the earth waiting for it’s Redeemer.

All the earth was waiting,
Long anticipating,
For the true Messiah to come.
In the chill of darkness,
Light became incarnate:
King of glory, cradled in straw. 

Refrain
(He is) Joy to the world,
Peace on the earth;
God has come to us,
Immanuel.

Hope for all the doubtful,
Mercy for the shameful,
Healer for the wounded and worn. 
Jesus, our redeemer, 
Counsellor and keeper; 
Father’s gift of love now outpoured.

Refrain

Come to him, the Lord of lords,
Bring your sorrow, bring your joy,
Worship and adore the one `
The world was waiting for!
Jesus will return to reign,
Wiping every tear away;
Death will be defeated, 
Earth and heaven will proclaim –

Refrain

¹https://www.resoundworship.org/page/About_Resound_Worship

This modern song written by Sovereign Grace is one I usually have on repeat around Christmas time. The call to ‘prepare Him room’ is not only for the in-keeper as detailed in Luke’s Gospel, but the whole world, as the Messiah enters the world, changes our hearts, and saves us from our sin.

O behold, the mystery now unfolds.
See the star shine on the virgin foretold.
Angels sing and light up the sky,
Hope rings out in a newborn’s cry;
Swing wide, you ancient gates,
For Christ is born today!

Refrain
Prepare Him room
Prepare Him room
Let the King of glory enter in

God with us, the promise has come to be.
This, the one the prophets were longing to see.
In the darkness a blazing light,
To the hungry the words of life;
His kingdom now is near,
For those with ears to hear.

Refrain

Oh, our hearts, as busy as Bethlehem.
Hear Him knock, don’t say there’s no room in the inn.
Through the cradle, cross, and grave,
See the love of God displayed;
Now He’s risen and He reigns,
Praise the Name above all names!

Refrain

This hymn was first published in 1744 in Charles Wesley’s Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord, a little collection so popular that it was reprinted 20 times during Wesley’s lifetime. Published in two eight-line stanzas, this hymn is now generally sung in the Advent season rather than during the nativity of Christ as the title of the collection indicates. “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” has the quality of a petition—a prayer that implores Christ to be among us. Imperative verbs are used six times in the two stanzas found in the hymnal: “Come, thou long-expected Jesus”; “From our fears and sins release us”; “Let us find our rest in thee”; “Now thy gracious kingdom bring”; “Rule in all our hearts alone”; “Raise us to thy glorious throne.” The cumulative effect of these petitions is a tone of supplication. Wesley succeeds in recalling the deep longing of ancient Israel for the Messiah—the Promised One¹.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to thy glorious throne.

¹umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-hymn-expresses-longing-for-arrival-of-our-savior

For those of you who may follow a liturgical church calendar in your church tradition, you may have already started enjoying the Advent season. For the rest of us, December is a great time to recenter our hearts on remembering the miracle and joy of the Messiah coming into the world. The whole of December will be dedicated to Christmas/Advent hymns and carols 🙂

We start off with “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”, which is a beloved Christmas hymn that poignantly expresses the eternality of the Son of God and his divinity and coequality with the Father and the Spirit. It serves as a reminder that Jesus is the promised and long-awaited for Messiah who brings redemption to the world. With clarity and beauty, this hymn expresses both the deity and humanity of Christ. It also gives the modern church a direct connection to the doxology of the ancient church, being originally written in the 4th Century by Marcus Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (commonly known as Prudentius) – it was then translated into English in the mid 19th Century¹. I love this beautiful stripped back, piano only solo version to set the tone of how I hope Christmas will be this year for us all: meditative, climatic, and joyful.

Of the Father’s love begotten
‘Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending he,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore.

Oh, that birth forever blessed
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bore the Saviour of our race,
And the babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed his sacred face,
Evermore and evermore.

This is he whom seers and sages
Sang of old with one accord,
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word.
Now he shines, the long-expected;
Let creation praise its Lord,
Evermore and evermore.

Let the heights of heav’n adore him,
Angel hosts his praises sing,
Pow’rs, dominions bow before him
And extol our God and King.
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Ev’ry voice in concert ring,
Evermore and evermore.

Christ, to thee, with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost, to thee
Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving
And unending praises be,
Honor, glory, and dominion
And eternal victory
Evermore and evermore.

¹https://medium.com/congregational-song/hymn-analysis-of-the-fathers-love-begotten-c702fb643ffb#:~:text=%E2%80%9COf%20the%20Father’s%20Love%20Begotten,brings%20redemption%20to%20the%20world.