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"Something to Sing About"
There’s a whole lot of singing going on in our Scripture readings today! · Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; · Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; · Sing to the LORD a new song; · Make a joyful noise; · Break forth into joyous song--sing praises. Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King; · Let the hills sing together for joy!
Have you something to sing about today? This Christmas morning, tell me. Is there a song in your heart?
Some of us have abundant blessings today—family and friends, and presents to give and presents to get. Sure, when things are good, there’s plenty to sing about.
But the prophet Isaiah, and the psalmist found their voice to sing not when they plenty, but when they had little. The songs of the prophet and the psalmist ring out not in celebration of what is, but in hope of what will be.
Did you catch it? Break forth in together in singing, you ruins of Jerusalem. Ruins of Jerusalem. The Sentinels sing for joy! Sentinels? Soldiers in watchtowers—watching for approaching attack see not enemies, but…messengers of good news. Sing! Sing not because times are good—for they often are not. Sing because in God’s hands, times will be better!
This is the Christmas news. A child born—a baby delivered that would in turn deliver the world from every struggle. Born to set the world free!
I doubt if you recognize the name of William Dix, who lived in the later half of the 19th century. As a young man, he became a successful insurance salesman in Glasgow, Scotland, but was stricken with a sudden serious illness at the age of twenty-nine. Dix was confined to bed for many weeks, and suffered not only failing health but a deep depression as well. He wrote later that one night he called out to God and, in his words, "met the Almighty in a new and very real way." The reason I tell you about young William’s Dix’s troubles is because in the midst of his trial and suffering, he found that he had a song in his heart. You know it. We call it, “What Child is This?” "What Child is This?" "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" is thought to be a very old Polish carol, of unknown origin. It was published in Spiewniczek Piesni Koscielne in 1908 and speaks of the stable scene-baby Jesus lying in a manger bed with the animals nearby. It also speaks of the hillside where shepherds heard the story from the angels and rejoiced. The short rhymed phrases move the piece forward, pointing to the final statement and the purpose of the song: "Christ the babe is Lord of all."
“Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” Christmas carols as we know them now were abolished by the English Puritan parliament in 1627 because they were a part of a "worldly festival," which they considered the celebration of Christmas to be. As a result, there was a scarcity of Christmas hymns and carols in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
"Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley was one of the few written during this period. Wesley's fine text and the melody by master composer Felix Mendelssohn have given this hymn its great popularity and its standing as a classic among Christmas songs.
The first stanza describes the song of the angels outside Bethlehem with an invitation to join them in praise of Christ. The following stanzas present the truths of the virgin birth, Christ's deity, the immortality of the soul, the new birth, and a prayer for the transforming power of Christ in our lives. For more than two hundred years, believers have been enlightened and blessed by the picturesque manner in which Charles Wesley has retold the truths of our Savior's birth. “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”
Blessing and Sending Forth |
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