"O how much God gave to us that day."

Carol: “The Birthday of a King” – William Harold Neidlinger (1863-1924)

Tune: NEIDLINGER

“’Twas a humble birthplace, but O how much God gave to us that day.” That’s how the second stanza of this carol begins. It gives us some contrast between the humble birthplace and the glory of redemption. It almost puts us back to list-making and/or blessing-counting; the implication is that what God gave to us at Bethlehem is beyond calculation… and indeed, it was… is.

Most of us know the familiar refrain of this carol –

            “Hallelujah! O how the angels sang.

            Hallelujah! How it rang!

            And the sky was bright with a holy light,

            ‘Twas the birthday of a King.”

- but like many hymns and carols, we sometimes miss out on what the center of the text gets at.

This hymnline ought to stick with us for this day in Advent as a constant reminder that the blessings continue to roll down from that first-century event… and we stand to benefit from all of them. Better than waiting to open the mysterious packages underneath our Christmas trees, being open to and appreciating all that God does for us makes the Christmas season more meaningful and lightens our darkened days with a holy light, reminding us that “It’s the birthday of my King."

Hear the Nashville Singers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=66Y0hVjMbA8