Music is one of the most wonderful aspects of the Christmas season. The songs of hope, joy and love span centuries and countries, and when we sing these words or listen to these carols, we join with other believers who in other times and in other places worshiped God with the same music.

“Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming” is an English Christmas carol based on a beautiful 15th century German song. The opening lyrics refer to God’s promise to David, the son of Jesse, that Messiah would come from his lineage, and that of His kingdom there would be no end.

If you have ever sung in a choir, you know that poignant expression of music is not limited to performances. There are moments of unexpected wonder when words and melody give serendipitous voice to the heart. That’s why I love this self-recorded group of college guys singing a cappella, outside in the cold.

Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

---

Part of a panel in the Jesse Tree window in York Minster, England.:  “It may be the oldest stained glass in England, circa 1170, or possibly as early as 1150.” Public domain.
Tree of Jesse: “The Tree of Jesse is a depiction in art of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, shown in a branching tree which rises from Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David. It is the original use of the family tree as a schematic representation of a genealogy.”

Copyright ©2010–2022 Iwana Carpenter