Truth For The Heart
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 (KJV) The roots of the music of Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel! go back to the 15th century.1 The Messianic titles in the lyrics, called the O Antiphons, are […]
Read MoreRead the Bible in 2011 ◊ Week 50: Sunday I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have […]
Read More“Joy to the World” with its exuberant music and words of celebration is one of my favorite Christmas carols. The words are based on Psalm 98, and it is one of the more than 600 hymns written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748).1 He wrote the hymn, however, not of the First Advent of Christ, but of […]
Read MoreIn The Bleak Midwinter is a lovely Christmas carol written by Christina Rossetti. “Our God, heaven cannot hold him, Nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away When he comes to reign; In the bleak midwinter A stable place sufficed The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.” In these two videos the words are sung […]
Read MoreOn Sundays and Wednesdays this month I’ll be posting Christmas music. During the week before Christmas there will be several posts as well as more on Christmas Day. I’ll add links to each gradually in the right sidebar. You can also go back in the archives to find music from last December if you don’t […]
Read MoreThe libretto of Messiah is taken from numerous books of the Bible: Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Lamentations, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Luke, John, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Hebrews and Revelation. If you’re not familiar with the passages selected by Jennens, you can read them at the above link. The first five verses of Isaiah […]
Read MoreWhen I was growing up we attended a church with a large music program, and I first sang in a choir as a young child. Our minister of music frequently had us sing the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s Messiah during December. The adult choir was at the front of the church behind the ministers, while […]
Read MoreI Wonder As I Wander is an American Christmas carol with words and melody by John Jacob Niles. He based it on a few snatches of song he heard on July 16, 1933, in the small Appalachian town of Murphy, North Carolina: “A girl had stepped out to the edge of the little platform attached […]
Read MoreMusic 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. This is […]
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Kindling for Candles 