Our Theme for this Week: Why we love Christmas Carols/Hymns.
Our days are filled with Christmas music this time of year, let us draw close and consider why we love these song/hymns.
Angels We Have Heard on High…
One of my favorite Christmas carols is ‘Oh Holy Night’. I was probably about 12 when the power of this song hit me. I remember sitting in our family room, watching Mariah Carey’s Christmas Spectacular on tv with my parents and siblings. The power of her voice and the conviction with which she sang was mesmerizing. And then…she sang ‘Oh Holy Night’. I was awestruck, not just by her powerful vocals, but for the first time by the words of this song.
“O holy night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appears and the Soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees; O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born.”
There is so much to pull from these lyrics, but I’d like to focus on the following words, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” So often, we become weary, and the Advent/Christmas season are no exceptions to the weariness. Perhaps this year has been particularly difficult for you. Maybe you’ve suffered the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship or marriage, an illness, the loss of a job, the loss of a long-held hope. Perhaps the busyness of the season, trying to get all the shopping done, trying to plan for your holiday gathering, trying to make the dollars stretch, has you weary. This list could go on and on.
In spite of this weariness, we are given hope in the birth of Jesus. We have “a thrill of hope.” We have on the horizon “a new and glorious morn.” Jesus is born and we can rejoice in the midst of our weariness. Does this mean our weariness and sorrows go away? No, it doesn’t. But it does mean that we can look to Jesus and rejoice in His birth and in the Good News we have in Him, the Good News that He came to be with us and to walk with us no matter what it is that we are going through. We can say with the psalmist, “You are my hope, Lord; my trust, God, from my youth. On you I have depended since birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength; my hope in you never wavers,” (Psalm 71:5-6).
If you find yourself weary this season, I encourage you “fall on your knees” in adoration, ask the Lord to help you find “the thrill of hope” in Jesus, and rejoice in the midst of your weariness that Jesus Christ has come and is with you.