"Fall on your knees"

Carol: “O Holy Night” –Translated from the French by John S. Dwight (1813-1893)
Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL (Adolphe Adam)

“Fall on your knees” is a call-to-worship, and to me it is in an interesting context; it seems to be stronger than “kneel” or “bow down.” It seems to be more of a reflexive action… one we do before we realize what we’ve done!

I’m a movie-lover, and two scenes from fairly recent films come to mind: 1) SAVING PRIVATE RYAN when the mother gets word that her sons have been killed in battle, and 2) MICHAEL CLAYTON when Tilda Swinton realizes her undoing. In both these cases, the women fall to their knees in shock; in our case, it would be awe. Upon realizing we are in the presence of a holy God, our reflex might be to fall to our knees without thinking it through: “Now should I raise my hands, should I bow my head, should I dance, should I be still?” Without any contemplation, we react in a way appropriate to our own expression, uncaring or unaware of anyone else’s reaction.

Whatever your natural, unbridled, child-like response, let it happen during this upcoming Epiphany season. If it’s as extreme as falling on your knees or prostrate (face down, arms spread) or standing still, let it be your honest, open response to the arrival of Emmanuel. It is an event worthy of your authentic worship response.

Susan Boyle Sings This Carol

"The wrong shall fail, the right prevail."

Carol: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Tune: WALTHAM

This seems like a good way to look into the new year with a carol based on a poem by a great American author -- the favorite of many. It’s easy to see why thoughtful singers would appreciate this text.

This hymnline follows the declaration “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.” Though written in 1863 during the Civil War years, before the “God Is Dead” movement attributed to the writings of Nietzsche in 1882, Longfellow made this argument for the existence and activity of God, refuting what became known as theothanatology.

Earlier in the carol, Longfellow’s head-bowed despair had brought him to the conclusion that peace does not reign in society because hate is so strong that it derides the concept of “peace on earth goodwill to men.” Interestingly, the belfry’s pealing brought him renewed hope that the promise spoken to the shepherds is still a possibility.

Those of us who have a positive outlook and are possessed of a hope that is steadfast and sure seem to constantly arrive at the conclusion that good will always prevail over evil – that in the final analysis, right trumps wrong.

May the ringing of bells during this season bolster our confidence in this abiding truth. May the song of the angels resound in our heads even during trying, stressful, even warring times. In this modern secular culture, the sense of the sacred may be waning; however, it is up to us believers to speak a word in favor of the survival of God once made manifest in a manger, now illustrated through our very lives.

Andy Williams Sings This Familiar Carol

Casting Crowns with a New Tune for This Text

Epiphany Hymn

If you plan worship at your place or have the ear of the person who does... here's one you can use during January. I still own it, so feel free to use it. Just let me know you did!

"God has opened heaven's door, and we are blessed forevermore."

Carol: “Good Christians, All Rejoice” – 14^th Century Medieval Latin

            Translated by John Mason Neale

Tune: IN DULCI JUBILO

Ever notice how many carols are in 6/8 time? We use “rollicking” and “lilting” to describe the way their tunes dance along. They don’t get much more carefree than this tune! At the same time, its words speak some pretty decent theology!

Most of us may have loved this one as children because it was our one chance to sing “ass” in church and snicker behind our hands! Newer hymnals have removed that euphemism and left us with an unlaughable “beast” in its place.

Today’s hymnline draws a picture for us of what God does as he sets our redemption into motion: he swings wide the substantial doors that once upon a time may have separated humankind from the divine… and sets us on the road from Bethlehem to Calvary to Joseph’s Burial Garden.

Maybe it’s because of the music that accompanies this text, but something Medieval comes to mind… like from the period in which it was written. Heavy, heavy castle doors come into my view – maybe even a drawbridge. And I can almost hear the rumbling as the gates slowly open to reveal all that awaits… those blessings that are ours forevermore… because Christ is born today.

It’s a picture worth conjuring up because anything that can help me ‘see’ what God has done for me in Christ Jesus sticks with me much longer… especially when that sight is accompanied by music!

Sung by an Asian choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=h3F9i0QuiQs

"Veiled in flesh the God-head see. Hail the incarnate Deity."

Carol: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” – Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Tune: MENDELSSOHN

Sculpture by Kevin Frances Gray

Meanwhile, back at my favorite carol with a little more Wesleyan theology!

The God-head – the Trinity – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – Parent, Child, Presence. However you express it, the God-head is all there is of God… the entirety of his essence. And here, Wesley calls on us to look upon the flesh-encased depiction of all that God is! Skin, draped over the totality of the Divine. Now, that should give us pause!

The incarnate Deity is in our midst, and we should offer him his due: the highest, most-sincere praise. “Hail, King Jesus!”

Don’t miss seeing/realizing that incarnation!

"Pleased as a man with us to dwell."

Carol: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” – Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Tune: MENDELSSOHN

This is my favorite Christmas carol. Charles Wesley had a way of putting his theology into poetry that still makes sense, long after his pen left the paper. His hymns almost always get at the heart of the gospel, and this one is no exception.

Today's hymnline tells us that Christ was “pleased as a man with us to dwell.” It was his pleasure to step from heaven to earth, to take on flesh, to live among humankind. I don’t think he and the Father had to come to some kind of deal or that he left heaven kicking and screaming.

As the Philippian Hymn says: “Christ, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient…” Taking on human likeness, appearing as a man, humbling himself, obeying, becoming a servant. Emmanuel. God WITH us.

And loving every minute of it – taking great delight in living among those whom his Father had created and placed on the earth.

I, for one, am glad he did.

Amy Grant Sings This Carol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=wbdvo019mgM

“Hope of all the earth thou art. Dear desire of ev’ry nation…”

 “Hope of all the earth thou art. Dear desire of ev’ry nation…”

Carol: “Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus” – Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Common Tune: HYFRYDOL

If you attend a church that still sings hymns, you might well have sung this Advent carol recently. It’s one of those that comes up once a year, usually on the first Sunday of Advent… which in many congregations is the day the “hope” candle is lighted.

This mash-up of two ideas from Wesley approaches anticipation from two sides. On the one hand Messiah is the “HOPE of all the earth”; on the other hand, the long-expected One is the “DESIRE" of every nation.” Similar, but not exactly the same.

As Christian people, we have a deep and abiding hope which is more akin to confidence than to some event or object we want to happen or come our way. During this season of awaiting, we start with the word “hope” because it looks forward; for believers, we don’t “wish” for what might happen in the future; we are confident that it will happen. Our hope is in Christ Jesus, as Paul says consistently in the epistles. That blessed assurance is ours.

Desire is something else altogether. This half of Wesley's mash-up is the state in which the yet-to-know-salvation nations find themselves – those peoples who yet await the arrival of a Messiah… a Savior. Almost every time explorers have uncovered a new people-group (tribe), they have found that they await some god-like redeemer. While their descriptors may vary, the Christ of Christmas may well be exactly what they’re waiting for – the desire of every nation.

Hope IS a state of looking forward. Absolutely. We who have already known the joy of the manger, the tragedy of the cross and the mystery of the resurrection can be SURE… sure enough to expose the desiring nature of all humanity to the beauty of that in which we are confident: the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Celtic Setting of This Carol

"Then let us all with one accord sing praises to our heavenly Lord."

Carol: “The First Noel” – Traditional English Carol

Tune: THE FIRST NOWELL

I love this hymnline that opens the final stanza of a most-beloved Christmas carol because it reminds me that we need to all get together and agree to sing praises! The people of God are rarely in ‘one accord’ on much of anything, but at least we can be when we sing!

At no other time during the year are you going to hear the name of Jesus being piped into the shopping malls. Even when the place of business is trying to be politically correct and playing only the instrumental versions, every shopper knows enough of the carol texts to sing them to themselves. “Christ the Savior is born!” “Our Lord, Emmanuel.” “Glory to the newborn King.” And even the carol at hand which goes on to explain WHY the Christ has come:

 

“Then let us all with one accord

Sing praises to our heavenly Lord

Who hath made heaven and earth of naught,

And with his blood our lives hath bought!"

So for the next few days, enjoy hearing your Savior’s name sung (or played) as you shop. Begin humming along…or even singing out loud. Who knows? A flash-mob could break out right there in ladies’ ready-to-wear!

We may not agree on much – we Christian people; but we seem to agree that the Christmas season is a good time to sing! So have at it!

Now, if we could just be in one accord the rest of the year on some other things!

Hear This Carol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=NRSqp4hoFVo

"O hush the noise, you folk of strife, and hear the angels sing."

"O hush the noise, you folk of strife, and hear the angels sing."

Carol: “It Came upon the Midnight Clear” – Edmund H. Sears (1810-1876)
Tune: CAROL

People of strife – those who stir up trouble wherever they go: I think that’s to whom this hymnline is addressed. We know people like that, and we all hope we are not one of them! Sometimes these are overtly hostile, picking fights, bullying their way through life. Others are much more subtle – the passive/aggressive types who on the surface seem so positive, kind… even compassionate; however, they are constantly plotting ways to get their own way.

Noise-makers are only fitting for New Year’s Eve parties. Human noise-makers are out of place just about anywhere they show up.

We know of times when warring nations have called a total truce during this holiday season. The most famous of these is the one when all was truly quiet on the Western Front on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1914 during World War I. They say enemy troops were crossing the battle lines to greet one another with hugs and handshakes… even tears. Some actually exchanged trinkets.

This hymnline calls the conflict-makers to cut it out, at least for these holy days. Instead, let the troubled souls hear the angels call for “peace on earth” and “goodwill to all.” Wouldn’t it be great if these were heard, heeded and applied… and that even the most localized strife (spousal abuse, child abuse, imposed mental anguish, etc.) would be quieted and peace might reign where strife has run rampant?

With the disciples at the upper room table, we must ask, “Is it I, Lord?” If the answer is “yes,” we need to hush the noise and hear the words of the Christmas angels.

"Rejoice and be merry. Set sorrows aside."

Carol: “A Virgin Unspotted” or “A Virgin Most Pure” – English 1661

Traditional English Tune

I learned this lilting tune from Sandy Skeenes when I participated in the Madrigal Singers at Carson Newman University. We sang a lot of ancient carols, but I loved them all… and added each to my memory bank of Christmas hymnody!

During these weeks, each Sunday you should be participating in an Advent service, preparing for the coming of the Baby born of that virgin most pure. And like no other season, the worship hours should be filled with joy.

This hymnline from the recurring refrain* of the carol calls us to set sorrows aside. Whatever may be less-than-joyful in our lives right now, we should leave in the pew as we leave church today; by leaving that behind, we have a much better chance of facing the remainder of Advent rejoicing and being merry.

The Christ Child is greater than any sorry that may be looming. So rejoice and be merry!

Cathedral Choir of Riga Dom Cathedral

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VzYjQfOdJV4

* - I know that’s redundant! Sorry.

"He comes to make his blessings flow."

Carol: “Joy to the World” – Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

               [A versification of Psalm 98]

Tune: ANTIOCH

During the recent Thanksgiving season, the gospel song "Count Your Blessings" is often sung. The message of this Carol Line is sort of a continuation of that hymn.

We have innumerable blessings, you and I. It's an inexhaustible list. Do you see how those blessings pile up? That’s a blessing in itself!

This line emphasizes that in place of the infestation of some negative aspects of life (sins, sorrows, thorns infesting the ground), “He comes to make his blessings flow (as) far as the curse (of sin) is found.”

There are many reasons Christ came; we could grab a legal pad and start making another list! But one of them is to replace the curse of sin with the blessings of himself – so that his blessings might flow into and through our lives… for our own edification and for those around us who may still be up to their necks, strangled by the thorns of sin and sorrow.

It is a shame when a blessing comes into our lives, stops there, and goes no further. “Paying it forward” was a Biblical principle long before it was a movie or a common catch phrase. As the blessing pile higher and higher, we become hoarders… yea, even Scrooge-like!

Let me give us another challenge for the Advent season: Because he comes to make his blessings flow, let’s pass along every blessing we possibly can. Let’s take up the blessing industry and be about our Father’s business!

Lord Christ, may every blessing that flows into me flow out of me into someone else. Amen.

Hear Choir from George Fox University

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6oOwa0CWVVQ

“He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger.”

“He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger.” 

Carol: “O Holy Night” –Translated from the French by John S. Dwight (1813-1893)
Tune: CANTIQUE DE NOEL (Adolphe Adam)


Identification. When you list the attributes of Christ, you may overlook this one, but the fact is that part of his mission to earth was to identify with those whom his Father had created. His having walked several hundred miles in our shoes made it possible for him – even now in his glorified state – to empathize with us human pilgrims.

I think I understand the concept of Christ having knowledge of my needs even before I voice them; that has been drilled into me from my earliest days of neediness. However, I am struck in this carol by the line “to our weakness (Christ) is no stranger.” I’m more familiar with “I am weak, but thou art strong,” but THAT is looking at this from a different perspective. Being no stranger to my weaknesses points out this identification attribute. He does not stand to the side as the strong silent type and wonder what I’m facing; he stands inside, seeing it from my perspective and whispers, “I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there.”

So, my fellow needy weak friends, the name Emmanuel can take on a deeper meaning for us during these days leading up to Christmas. Christ truly is WITH us in all our struggles... still.

Carol Sung by Home Free

"How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n."

Carol: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” – Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
Tune: ST. LOUIS

This is one of few “standard” Christmas carols written by an American. There are lots of contemporary ones, of course, but of those we’ve sung in church for years, this one is sort of unique – not being from the British, French or German traditions!

I absolutely love this hymnline because it describes so very well how Christ continues to enter the lives of humankind, just like he did in Bethlehem’s barn.

How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv’n.
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.

In this text, the word “so” means “in the same way.” In other words, God gives out his blessings in the same way he sent Jesus into the world: silently.

When redemption is poured into our lives, it is indeed a silent process. WE realize the warming, but the person sitting right beside us is totally unaware that it has occurred. In the same way that Christ was quietly ushered into the world (pre-angelic hosts at least!), that same Christ by his Spirit is escorted into waiting, open hearts. No fanfare. No earthquake. In great tranquility.

In governmental parlance, we often talk of the “peaceful transfer of power.” In church-speak, that is what actually happens: the power of God is peacefully transferred into our lives. How silently the wondrous gift is given.

Be silent for a few seconds before you read on.

It was in that kind of silence that Christ first entered your life. I hope that is as precious to you as it is to me. On the other hand, unless we tell them, the person right next to us won’t know it happened. A silent act can be communicated by a verbal witness.

Hear Child-Singer Connie Talbot Sing This Carol
Seems appropriate to hear a child sing this one!

"Bind all peoples in one heart and mind. Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease."

"Bind all peoples in one heart and mind. Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease."

Carol: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” – Latin Hymn
Tune: VENI EMMANUEL

In this plainsong Advent carol, we singers are not only asking Messiah to come; we are also making several requests of him upon his arrival and upon the establishment of his Kingdom:

1) Come and cheer our spirits.
2) Disperse the gloomy clouds of night.
3) Send death’s dark shadows away.
4) Bring order to all things.
5) Show us the path of knowledge and lead us in that path.

In the final stanza, we encounter today’s hymnline. We plead for true camaraderie of all peoples in compassion and in thought. “Bring us together,” we pray. “Give a sense of cooperation and agreement. Help us to accept one another’s differences and make those differences work for the good of the Kingdom.”

To do that, the envy, strife and quarrels need to cease. Our praying continues, “Emmanuel, now that you, O God, are with us, call a cease-fire between the warring factions worldwide.”

I know this carol has some definite Jewish overtones – the people of Israel are renewing their belief that Emmanuel shall come to them. As Christians who are confident that Messiah has already made his appearance on this terrestrial ball, we make all those same requests listed above, and we, too, seek commonality of passion and theology; we, too, have had it with the disagreements that arise within the church out of anger, envy and strife. Except for the instigators, nobody likes a good church fight!

Having been involved in a denomination that has suffered its fair share of disagreement – especially in recent years – this prayer carol takes on a fuller significance. When I pray this carol, I mean it: I beg the Good Shepherd to come to enfold all his children who find themselves at war within the flock.

For all of us, conflict is on display worldwide. For some, the conflict may be within their community, their family, or even within themselves. Wherever they are found, may the struggles stop and reconciliation reign.

In the refrain, we are called to rejoice in the promise that Emmanuel continues to come to our rescue. Ultimately, we will enjoy a worldwide heavenly peace. Meanwhile, we keep on prayer-singing!

Great rendition by a cappella men’s group
(does not include this stanza!)

Big choral arrangement that uses this stanza