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I stumbled across this song a few years before I retired. Our Praise Team sang this just before our Christmas Eve service in 2018.  A simple yet powerful affirmation of what God did for us:  “the light has come” and “we have a Saviour.”  It also tells us how we should respond:  “Come and adore Him,” “Sing with the angels” and “Tell all the world.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0esKTjhqJII

A child has been given The King of our freedom
Sing for the light has come This is Christmas
|Come and adore Him And bring gifts before Him
Joy to the world  Worship the Son This is Christmas

CHORUS

This is Jesus Emmanuel Here with us tell all the world
We have a Saviour we have a Saviour
We are no longer lost  ‘Cause He has come down for us
We have a Saviour we have a Saviour

Sing with the angels And lift up your voices
|Join in the song of hope    This is Christmas

CHORUS

His love will reign forever

CHORUS

 Merry Third Day of Christmas.

Ever since I was in High School, one of my favorite singers has been James Taylor. I’ve always loved his clear, soothing voice. Later on, I discovered a very different singer that I liked as well from a totally different genre: Ricky Skaggs, whose roots are in Bluegrass and Gospel.  If I haven’t told you before, I like a wide variety of music.

Imagine my delight when I found that James Taylor and Ricky Skaggs collaborated on a Christmas Song!  I love the blend of their voices and the message of this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKKgOvf0VkY

They didn’t own a house, no crib no toys were waiting
Still they had their love for the child they were anticipating
He was born one winter night on a road between two towns
They wrapped him up so warm and tight and said
It looks like heaven’s come down

There was a new star shining in the sky up above
By its light that winter night
They found peace and perfect love
If we want to find it, I know we always will
For that new star is shining for us still

 He worried how to feed him on the trade that was all he knew
It was hard enough to make ends meet when they were only two
But the cold, the dark and hunger couldn’t take away their joy
And she knew that they would find a way
For their precious baby boy

 here was a new star shining in the sky up above
By its light that winter night
They found peace and perfect love
If we want to find it, I know we always will
For that new star is shining for us still

 That new star is indeed still shining. His birth brought us the Savior we needed. Heaven indeed came down to us to accomplish our salvation.

Merry Second Day of Christmas.

A young man in kindergarten had a part in his school’s “Winter Pageant.” The mother had to work the evening of the pageant, but found out there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All the parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to attend the dress rehearsal.

Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as “Christmas”, the mother didn’t expect anything other than fun and secular entertainment — songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.  So, when her son’s class rose to sing, “Christmas Love“, she was surprised by its title.

Her son was excited, as were all of his classmates, wearing fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row — center stage — held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing “C is for Christmas”, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, “H is for Happy”, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, “Christmas Love”.

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, they noticed the small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter “M” upside down — totally unaware her letter “M” appeared as a “W”. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at her mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her “W”. The teachers tried to shush the children, but the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and everyone saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, they understood — the reason they were there, the reason for the holiday in the first place. They understood because when the last letter was held high, instead of saying Christmas Love, the message read loud and clear:  CHRIST WAS LOVE.

And He still is. That’s what our Father gave to me, and to you, on Christmas

• Love that would not let us die in sin.
• Love that provides us with an escape, a rescue, a hope and a future.
• Love incarnate, born as one of us
• Love that will not let us go.
• Love that took our place in punishment so that we could have forgiveness and life everlasting.
• Love that rose from the dead to defeat death for us.

Love came down at Christmas, 
Love all lovely, Love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.
(Lutheran Worship #46, 1)

The love of God appeared in human form in Bethlehem’s most famous Son.

One more Advent hymn for your reflection and preparation this year.

The advent of our King, Our prayers must now employ,
And we must hymns of welcome sing In strains of holy joy.

The everlasting Son Incarnate deigns to be;
Himself a servant’s form puts on To set His servants free.

O Zion’s Daughter, rise To meet thy lowly King,
Nor let thy faithless heart despise The peace He comes to bring.

As Judge, on clouds of light, He soon will come again
And His true members all unite With Him in heav’n to reign.

Before the dawning day Let sin’s dark deeds be gone,
The old man all be put away, The new man all put on.

All glory to the Son, Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever One, Through all eternity.
(The Lutheran Hymnal #68)

The words that I will be pondering and mulling over today are in the second stanza:

The everlasting Son Incarnate deigns to be;

The one who is without beginning and without end chose to take on human flesh, becoming one of us. This not only helps us to relate to Him, but it enabled Him to be the payment for our sin!

Himself a servant’s form puts on To set His servants free.

The one in charge of EVERYTHING made Himself a servant to serve the ones who should be serving Him.

God’s grace in the form of a baby boy that would grow to carry out His mission of saving all people. Reason indeed to sing for joy.

An “antiphon” is a psalm or verse that is sung responsively – one group sings one line and another group sings the second line. This back and forth continues all the way through. Somewhere around the sixth century someone wrote seven antiphons that became known as the “O Antiphons.” Each one began with the Latin “Veni” which means “O Come.” This was followed by a name or title associated with the Messiah. It became the practice in the church to use these seven antiphons in Vespers (Evening Worship) on the last seven days of Advent, December 17-24.  These “O Antiphons” are the basis for this very popular Advent Hymn.

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O, come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who ord’rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the Law,In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s tree, Free Them from Satan’s tyranny;
That trust Thy mighty pow’r to save And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou day-spring from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!

I have included the text of this hymn as it appears in the Lutheran Service Book (#357). If you look at the page next to the hymn there, you will see English translations of the seven “O Antiphons.” Note the seven names/titles for Jesus. The one that is in the refrain of each stanza if the Hebrew word “Immanuel” which literally means “God with us.” The stanzas of this hymn affirm that the one we wait for is the one who is our ransom, will save us, give us victory over death, and open heaven for us. Jesus did all that.

We sing this hymn in joyful anticipation of celebrating our Savior’s first arrival and waiting for His return to take us to Himself.

Matthew 1:18–23 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

How did Mary tell Joseph she was pregnant? Scripture does not tell us. It could not have been an easy conversation. And his reaction is understandable. Joseph received what seemed to be devastatingly bad news. Betrothal was to make sure this did not happen! So no one would fault him for his decision to divorce Mary.

But God sent an angel to straighten Joe out. He heard and now knows the truth. This was God’s doing, the keeping of His promise. What appeared to be bad news was actually the best news ever for the world. God’s promised Messiah was about to be born. While it was still not an easy thing to accept, that he would be raising a child not his own, this knowledge changed his attitude and His behavior.

Hearing God’s Word and having it applied to our lives is not always ready to hear.

“The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20

But those words are needed. It may sound like bad news, and it would be if that was the entire message. But it is not. Because of the one who would be born to Mary and Joseph, we have certainty of forgiveness and everlasting life.

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:10–11

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Hark the glad sound, the Savior comes, The Savior promised long;
Let ev’ry heart prepare a throne And ev’ry voice a song.

He comes the pris’ners to release, In Satan’s bondage held.
The gates of brass before Him burst, The iron fetters yield.

He comes, from thickest films of vice To clear the mental ray
And on the eyeballs of the blind To pour celestial day.

He comes the broken heart to bind, The bleeding soul to cure,
And with the treasures of His grace T’enrich the humble poor.

 Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace, Thy welcome shall proclaim
And heaven’s eternal arches ring With Thy beloved name.
(The Lutheran Hymnal #66)

Hark? Does anyone uses that word anymore other than in a hymn or a Shakespeare play? But it is a good word for an Advent or Christmas hymn, and it is in several of them. It means “listen up,” “pay attention” “you are going to want to hear this.”

Like so many Advent hymns, this one speaks of the first coming of our Lord and His second coming as well. In both instances, we need to pay attention and can say it is indeed a glad sound to hear He is coming.

This little hymn affirms that the long-promised Savior will free us from Satan’s bondage. He comes with the treasure of grace, which is Good News for us all.

But what about that middle stanza  That one was left out of the latest hymnal our church body published.  Is this talking about His first coming or His second one? I think this is a good example of both/and. It is describing something historical while also pointing us to what will happen at the last day.

He comes, from thickest films of vice To clear the mental ray
And on the eyeballs of the blind To pour celestial day.

Christ came as a man to a world of sin and went through it sinless. He already went through the “thickest films of vice” on our behalf. He suffered the consequences our sin demanded. He showed us who were blind in our trespasses a new day was dawning.

It will happen again. Scripture says it will get worse here on earth before our Lord returns. But He will come again. He will come through even thicker films of vice when He comes on the last day. And the new day He will show us then will be even brighter, the dawn of a new heaven and a new earth.

Let ev’ry heart prepare a throne And ev’ry voice a song.

I’ll keep singing and try to keep my heart prepared to welcome Him.