Advent-ure December 23: Sing Unto the Lord

During this Christmas season, our lives can be enriched by singing the great carols that have endured throughout the years, that bring great insight into the significance of our Savior's birth.  Music can be
such a wonderful component of our spiritual lives, as Psalms reminds us. Psalm 98 states:
(1) Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
2 The Lord has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.

Because of the Advent of Christ, because of His coming to earth, He continued the process of bringing salvation to fallen humanity.  Christmas was not the end in itself, but the beginning of another stage of God's wonderful redemption plan that had been foretold throughout the ages. The entirety of the Bible shows how God regarded His people, tells us how He intended to reconcile them, and illustrates how He brought it to pass through His death and resurrection.  The earthly birth of Jesus can communicate to us about the new birth He desires for us to experience.

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On the Nineveh Plains in Iraq the bonfires are still burning, and after years of persecution and uncertainty, maybe hope is burning in the their hearts.  Day 23 of our Faith Radio Advent Guide, Around the World in 25 Days! is devoted to this unique area, the home to many Assyrian Christians. The website, ChaldeanNews.com, reports that Assyrian Christians read the Bible, then light bonfires, made of dried thorns, at their homes and churches.

The accompanying Scripture is from 1st John chapter 1, verse 7. Let's begin with verse 5:
5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

We have an incredible message to proclaim, and during this Advent season, we can dig deeper in reflection - and in song.  Keith Getty desires for believers to embrace the meaning in some familiar, timeless carols, and in my earlier discussion with him, in which we discussed the latest Keith and Kristyn Getty album, Sing! An Irish Christmas, he talked about 10 carols that he has pinpointed as containing strong truth about the coming of our Savior.

Baptist Press and Challies.com have both post the list of those 10 carols.  Just last week, a self-penned article by Keith was at the Baptist Press website. He writes:

Christmas can be the biggest evangelistic event of the year. The very act of singing traditional carols is a radical Gospel witness; it reveals the hope of the world to those in our midst who are singing about Him or listening to songs about Him but have yet to believe in Him.

So here are 10 Christmas carols that will help us revel in the mystery of the incarnation but will also help us share God's heart with our friends and families, our colleagues and communities.

On The Meeting House, Getty spoke with me about the importance of reflecting on and singing these carols.

So, for the next few minutes, let's reflect on these 10 significant carols.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  Keith points out that the carol was written by Charles Wesley and included in his Methodist hymnal, released in 1739. He writes on Baptist Press, "This theologically rich classic is unlike many other carols; it embodies the entirety of the Gospel. It moves us on from the idea that Jesus' birth is confined to a sweet childlike nativity scene -- instead, it forces each of us to confront the raw and powerful truth of who Jesus is and what He came to do..."

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus is another carol by Charles Wesley,  included in a 1745 collection, about which Getty states, "The song captures how centuries of waiting, longing and weeping find ultimate resolution in Christ."

Then, there's O Come All Ye Faithful, likely written by John Francis Wade in 1744, described as "a Christmas call to worship; it beckons us simply to come and adore 'Christ the Lord.'"

In the Bleak Midwinter is, according to Keith, "...among our most plaintive carols, partly because of the melancholic melody by Gustav Holst. Penned by English poet Christina Rossetti, the lyrics first appeared in 1872. The last stanza brings us to a place of personal reflection and response -- what should we do about the message of Jesus' birth?"

Joy to the World, a 1719 composition by Isaac Watts, possesses, as Getty says, "triumphant cadence and rousing spirit..." He points out that it's "based on Psalm 98 and wasn't even originally intended to be a Christmas carol."

We continue to highlight these 10 significant carols, as highlighted by modern-day hymnwriter Keith Getty, using information and quotes from a recent Baptist Press article.  We move on now to O Come, O Come Emmanuel, which Keith dates back to the 800's - he writes, "It allows people both inside and outside our churches, for whom Christmas may not be the time of joy they feel it should be, to reflect on and connect with a carol that expresses a deeper longing for God's promises to be fulfilled."

Then there's Silent Night, about which Getty says, "...is arguably the best-known Christmas carol in the world; it has been translated into 300 languages and dialects." It was "originally a poem with six verses written by Joseph Mohr, an Austrian priest, in 1816."  The performance of this carol at the event, Sing! An Irish Christmas at the Grand Ole Opry House during the Getty Music Worship Conference, called, Sing! included the guitar artistry of Phil Keaggy.

About Angels We Have Heard On High, Getty states, "The lyrical journey shines a light on the reality of the incarnation in a way that refreshes the soul. This carol contributes wonderfully to that sense of celebration expressed by the angels in the Gospel of Luke."

O Little Town of Bethlehem was composed by a Philadelphia pastor, Phillips Brooks in 1867, and was influenced by a trip to the city of Christ's birth. It was actually "sung by a group of Sunday School children and their teachers...," as Getty relates.

And, there's a carol that Keith says is not as popular as it once was. Once in Royal David's City was composed by Cecil Frances Alexander, the wife of an Irish pastor  - she published it as a children's carol in 1848. Getty states, "It ultimately reminds all who sing it of the humanity of Jesus and the tremendous mystery of God becoming man."

So, there you have these 10 significant carols, with some deeper meaning provided by the inimitable Keith Getty.  When we sing these carols, as well as other songs that celebrate the birth of Christ and provide insight on His birth, we can be encouraged in our faith.  Fact of the matter: Christ came, He grew, He taught and ministered, He died, He is risen, and He lives forever.  He has brought salvation to each of us, and we can remember to exalt Him in how we participate in this time of observing His birth.  As worship leader Tommy Walker discussed with me recently, Christmas is a tremendous opportunity for worship!!