Month: December 2019

Christmas Eve: O Holy Night

I think many people would agree, “O Holy Night” is a wonderful song and one of the best loved songs of the Christmas season, but if you think the song is great, you really need to hear the story behind it. The song has its origins in France, when a parish priest a approached a poet from his congregation named Placide Cappeau to write a poem for Christmas mass. Cappeau was a little surprised to have been called upon, as he was not among the most regular church attenders. Still he was honored to be called upon to offer his gift to the church, and so he jumped in. He finished with a piece called “Cantique de Noel.”

Cappeau was so pleased with the poem, that he decided he must set it to music. He enlisted the services of a friend named Adolphe Adams, who was a sought after composer of the time. This song about the birth of Christ, was a challenge to Adams, who was Jewish. Cappeau’s poem represented a day Adams didn’t celebrate and a man he did not view as the son of God. Still, Adams poured himself into the effort and came up with the tune that we all know and love today, but there was trouble in store.

Poet Cappeau walked away from the church to become part of the socialist movement. Not long after, church leaders discovered the composer Adams was Jewish, and the song which was becoming one of the most beloved Christmas songs in France was suddenly denounced by the Catholic church and deemed unfit for church services. Even so, the song remained popular with the French people who continued to sing it.

A decade later an American writer named John Sullivan Dwight, heard the song and felt it needed to be introduced to America. Dwight, was an abolitionist and was especially impressed with verse three, “”Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother; and in his name all oppression shall cease.” It was Dwight who translated the song into English, with the title O Holy Night. By this time the song had been banned in France for almost 20 years.

On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden–a professor and former chemist for Thomas Edison–did something long thought impossible. Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first time in history, a man’s voice was broadcast over the airwaves: He read a portion of the Gospel of Luke. Up to this point radio waves only carried coded signals that had to be translated and never voices. Imagine all those radio operators suddenly hearing a voice over their radios for the first time, totally unannounced and reading from the Christmas story. After finishing his reading, Fessenden picked up his violin and played “O Holy Night,” making it the first song ever transmitted on radio waves. Music had found a new medium to take it around the world. Today the song is one of the most recorded and played songs in all of history. This incredible work–requested by a forgotten parish priest, written by a poet who would later split from the church, given soaring music by a Jewish composer, and brought to Americans to serve as much as a tool to spotlight the sinful nature of slavery as tell the story of the birth of a Savior–has become one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created.

Advent Week 4: We Three Kings

December 22 Advent Reading
We Three Kings

You’re not going to believe this, but this favorite hymn of the Christmas season was brought about by a visit from St. Nicholas. You see once upon a time the Episcopalian church decided to build their first seminary in the U.S. They had decided to build in New York City, but they were looking for a location. At about the same time, there was a man who was the son of an Episcopalian bishop who was also an up and coming real estate developer. His name was Clement Moore. Moore had recently become famous not so much for his real estate skills but for a poem he wrote that started with the words, “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

As a result of the poem, Clement Moore became quite famous and quite wealthy. He ended up using a good portion of his wealth to buy a large estate in Manhattan. When he found out the church was looking for a site for their seminary, he donated some of his land, and because he was a linguist, Moore became a professor of biblical languages at the seminary. One of the seminary’s first students was a reporter from Pittsburgh named John Hopkins. Hopkins later became professor of music at the school and eventually wrote the song We Three Kings for a Christmas program held at the seminary.

This all seems a little too coincidental. A man famous for writing a poem about Santa Claus, the legendary giver of gifts, ends up giving a gift of land for a school, which teaches a man with a gift of music to create a famous song about some very famous givers of gifts. It seems like gifts are a recurring theme of this story and of course there is a great emphasis on gifts at Christmas. Now to be sure, we have to keep our priorities and our budgets in check with all this gift giving, but as we consider this song about the wise men and the gifts that they brought, and even more as we consider the greatest gift of all in Jesus Christ, gifts can surely find a place in the holiday. The wise men came bearing gifts across the miles, but when they saw the ultimate gift, their reaction is telling. They bowed down and worshipped him. Even their amazingly opulent gifts paled in comparison to the gift who stood before them. So in this season of giving, let the gifts remind you of the ultimate Giver and His ultimate gift and be thankful.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Writers can be a sensitive bunch, even when they are famous leaders of the church. One of these was Charles Wesley. Most people know him from church history as a founder of the Methodist movement, but what you may not know is he also wrote over 6,000 hymns. He was always happy when people published his hymns because it helped them to spread, but he had one request, never, under any circumstances change the words. Wesley seemed to think his words were just fine and didn’t need any help, and for the most part he was probably right. 6,000+ hymns should have thought him a thing or two about writing. One of his close associates, his dear friend, evangelist George Whitefield, broke Wesley’s rule once and for that we can all be grateful.

Wesley wrote: “Hark how all the welkin rings.” Welkin is an old English word that means the vault of heaven. Whitefield changed the lyric to the first line of the song we know and love. “Hark how all the welkin rings” was changed to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and the rest, as they say, is history.

Angels play an important part in the Christmas story. From Gabriel appearing to Zechariah preparing him for the birth of John the Baptist, and then appearing to Mary and telling her about God’s plan to make her the mother of the Messiah. From there he went to Joseph in a dream explaining that the fantastic story Mary was telling, was the truth. Later, Gabriel also warned Joseph to take Jesus to Egypt to save him from the wrath of Herod, and then warning the Magi not to return to Herod for the same reason. The word “angel” means Messenger and they were clearly living out their life’s purpose on that day.

Of course, the most amazing appearance of the angels in this story was probably when the angel went to the shepherds shining with the glory of the Lord on the night of Jesus birth, giving them the good news and telling them what to look for, followed by the coming of the heavenly host saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
These messengers brought good news of great joy for all people. It was Good News then and it still is today.

Consider these words from the third verse of the hymn:

Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace
Hail the Sun of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings
Risen with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
born that men no more may die
born to raise the sons of earth
born to give them second birth.

What a beautiful picture of the coming of Christ. He was born to give us peace with God. He is a shining example of perfect righteousness. As John wrote He is light and in that light is the life of all men. He came to heal the nations. He laid aside the glory of heaven to live with us here, so that we could place our faith in Him. He was born to lay down His life and in the process defeat the greatest enemy, death itself. He was born so we could be born again and receive eternal life. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, but Wesley’s song reminds us, the purpose of Christmas is Good Friday, and the purpose of Good Friday is Easter. Jesus is God’s greatest gift. Glory to the newborn King.

Advent Week 2: O Little Town of Bethlehem

The Christmas Hymn O Little Town of Bethlehem was written in 1865 by Philip Brooks, a pastor from Boston and Philadelphia. He wrote the hymn after traveling to the Holy Land and worshipping at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Standing so close to where Jesus was born, hearing hymn after hymn of praise on Christmas Eve, inspired him so much that when he arrived back in the states he wrote the poem that would become this classic hymn and had a friend set it to music, for the children to sing at his church.

The song imagines a tranquil setting, with people asleep in a night that is utterly still. Yet while the people were sleeping, God was at work. An everlasting light was shining. The One who said let there be light, three long days before He created the sources of light, was bringing the light of the world into the world. John chapter 1 tells us the story of the light. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it”. The people sleeping just off those dark streets didn’t even notice. They didn’t see the light, but if they had seen it would they have understood? God changed the entire course of history, while the people slept. The One people had been praying for at least a thousand years had come, and they were caught unaware.

Maybe it was because they had waited such a long time for their long awaited King, but when He came there was no room for Him. His mother birthed Him in a stable because there was nowhere else available. The prophets foretold it. He would be born of a virgin, from the line of Judah, in the city of David, the little town of Bethlehem. Somehow they missed it. Let’s make sure we don’t.

Now to be sure, the lyrics of the song are not Scripture. They’re a poem written by a man of God, inspired by a once in a lifetime trip to the place where his Savior was born. It’s doubtful things were still, in Bethlehem that first Christmas night. People were forced to come there from all over the world to be counted. There was likely a whole lot going on that night. Enough that the birth of one little boy might easily have been overlooked, and maybe that’s a lesson for us. In the midst of all of our preparations, do we end up missing the baby? In the dark streets of life, do we miss the ever- lasting light? Brothers and sisters, we need to be aware. Yes Jesus has come, and for that we praise Him, but He has also promised to come again. 20 centuries have passed, and once again, the streets are dark and many seem to be asleep. The length of time between the first and second coming is not a sign of a broken promise. It’s the sign that a loving and graceful God is patiently waiting for people to come into the light.

The light is coming. Don’t miss it. Philip Brooks finished the first verse of his song with a reminder for us all. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Jesus is the answer to all that we face in this world. He is the source of all of our hope and He is big enough to overcome our biggest fear. Jesus came on Christmas, and He’s coming again.

Be ready.

Advent Week 1: Joy to the World

If you went to church in England up until the early 1700s, you wouldn’t have needed a hymnal. The church sang almost exclusively from the book of Psalms. This is the world Isaac Watts was born into, but he wanted something more. He wanted hymns that reflected New Testament thought, so he started writing his own. He wrote 750 hymns over the course of his life, including, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, O God Our Help in Ages Past and the hymn we’re about to look at, Joy to the World. Today it’s hard to imagine the church without these hymns, but in his time, Watts and his hymns were really controversial. Change has always been hard for the church, but can you imagine singing praises in church without mentioning Jesus?

Joy to the World is really the brainchild of three different men. Around the time Isaac Watts was writing his hymns, George Frederick Handel was writing his masterpiece, The Messiah, which features the Hallelujah Chorus. About a century later, the composer Lowell Mason took Isaac Watts’ lyrics and set them to the tune of a portion of the Messiah and gave us the song we know today.

Think about those lyrics:

Joy to the World; the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing.

It’s a proclamation of Joy. After thousands of years of expectation, the promise had been kept. The Messiah was here. This is a song of celebration. The promised King, the long awaited King has stepped out of heaven and into human history. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Jesus was here it was time to receive Him. Of course, we know when He came to be born in Bethlehem, there was no room for him. The people had waited so long and yet they were unprepared to receive Him. Singing this song, in a way asks the question, is there room in your heart for Him? Christmas is a time to celebrate because Jesus is here. He came to our rescue, defeated sin and death and the grave and made the way for us to receive eternal life. This should bring joy not just to our lives but to the world.

It’s for this reason that we get the line which is our theme for the advent season. And heaven and nature sing. There is joy that Jesus came, but there is also anticipation because He is coming again. The Bible says Creation waits in eager expectation for the Sons of God to be revealed. There will come a time when the effects of sin will be removed, and all creation, heaven and nature will be redeemed and made whole. Jesus came to save us and He is coming again to redeem all of creation. Heaven and nature will sing rejoicing over being made new. Let every heart prepare him room. Let earth receive her king.

Joy to the world.