Truth For The Heart
I first heard Mary, Did You Know? sung by a small ensemble at the water’s edge of St. Augustine during an outdoor Christmas celebration over ten years ago. The lyrics and music throughout the song call you to meet and to know the Lord Jesus. The song’s bridge contains the words that caught me then and […]
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. “Lo, How […]
Read More“I 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 More“In 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 the two videos below the words are […]
Read More“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) – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! is one of the oldest songs heard during the Advent season. The roots of the music of go back to the 15th century.1 […]
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 MoreMany people know that Handel wrote the music for Messiah, however, the man who chose the Bible passages for its libretto and gave them to Handel is hardly known at all. His name was Charles Jennens, and Messiah was born out of a tragic event in his life. Dr. Al Mohler, President of The Southern […]
Read MoreTwo years ago I read a mystery by George Bellairs that opens on Christmas Eve 1940 as Detective-Inspector Littlejohn is traveling to meet his wife who has evacuated to Yorkshire after their London flat was destroyed in the Blitz. On Christmas night they visit the Methodist church in a small village to hear the choir […]
Read MoreI first heard of Coventry Carol in a novel by Helen MacInnes when she used it at a critical moment in her story. It’s a song that’s probably unfamiliar to many Americans. I know I’ve never heard it sung in church or in concert here in the United States. The carol is both lullaby and lament, sung […]
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Kindling for Candles 