Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
As with Gladness Men of Old is considered an Epiphany hymn more than a Christmas hymn. William Chatterton Dix wrote the hymn on January 6, 1859 while recovering from an extended illness. He was bed bound at his home in Glasgow, Scotland and unable to attend that morning’s Epiphany service at church. While reading the account of the Epiphany or […]
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After a long journey, the wise men have finally arrived at their destination. Can you imagine the commotion as they ride up and tie their camels to the hitching posts? “We may well imagine their expectations were raised to find this royal babe, though slighted by the nation, yet honourably attended at home; and what a disappointment it was to […]
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There’s A Star in the East is a Christmas Carol. Reginald Heber is credited with writing the song. He was in 1783 England and named after his father. He professed his admiration of the hymns of John Newton and William Cower and one of the first High Church Anglicans to write his own hymns. In 1811, he was appointed Bishop […]
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Bethlehem Morning was written by Morris Chapman. The song was made popular by Sandi Patty. Chapman was born in Mississippi in 1940. He served as pastor to several churches in Texas before becoming CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1992-2010. The song takes one to the morning of Jesus birth. Merry Christmas!
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The song is a traditional spiritual of African American origin. The origin of the song is unknown. One source claims sister Margaret Allison of the Angelic Gospel Singers, a 1950s performing group, wrote the song. However, this has not been proven. She did write the song “Glory to the Newborn King,” which many believe may have morphed into Jesus, Oh […]
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The Wise Men have met with King Herod and been sent on their way to Bethlehem, where prophecy foretold of the Christ child’s birth. The journey to Bethlehem was only six or seven miles from where they were. It was not a long journey for them. “ A road led south to Bethlehem, which was about six miles from Jerusalem, so […]
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As we wrap up this series, we’ve discussed the gifts the Wise Men brought the Christ child, the three gifts Christ gives us and the three gifts we can give to Christ. As we wrap up this series, we are going to discuss the three gifts Christ offers us. As we wrap up, there are three gifts we can give […]
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The Gift Goes On was written by Claire Cloninger and Ron Harris. Brenton-Benson Music and Lillenas Publishing published the song in 1974. The song was made popular by Sandi Patty. We are reminded through the lyrics that the gift of Christmas is Jesus and continues to give and go on even after Christmas time.
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Last time, we discussed the Wise Men’s query about the newborn. King Herod receives word of their arrival and is nervous. Matthew Henry says, “Herod was now an old man, and had reigned thirty-five years; this king was but newly born, and not likely to enterprise any thing considerable for many years; yet Herod is jealous of him. “ “Herod then […]
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We have been discussing the gifts of Christmas. So far, we’ve discussed the three gifts of the wise men and the three gifts Jesus gives to us. While Jesus gives us three gifts for Christmas, and all year long, there are three gifts we can give back to him. They are: Our hearts—Jesus wants our hearts. The first step is […]
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Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming is a Christmas carol of German origin. The carol was originally known as “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” which means a rose has sprung up. The rose in the text is symbolic of the Virgin Mary. The original hymn had two verses, expressing the prophecy of Isaiah in the first verse and the symbolism […]
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Last time, we talked about the Wise Men journey to find the newborn, King of the Jews. They did not question, but believed. They expect to find everyone worshipping this child, but arrive to discover no one knows where the child is. Scripture tells us that the word of their arrival quickly reached Herod and he was terrified. He was […]
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Last week, we discussed the gifts the Wise Men brought to the Christ Child and the meaning behind these gifts. However, these are not the only gifts of Christmas. There is a much greater gift. The gift Christ gives to each of us. Christmas has a greater and deeper meaning. It is about the gift Jesus gave to us, when […]
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Last time, we took a look at who the wise men were. Matthew does not tell us how many wise men there were or their names. However, Armenian tradition identifies the “Magi of Bethlehem” as Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Gaspar {Caspar} of India. The Western Christian Church has accepted this tradition and regards these three men as saints. The wise men have […]
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The Wise Men approached the Christ Child and worshipped him first and foremost. More than anything the Lord wants us to spend time with him. We can worship him in so many ways whether through prayer, Bible reading, music, dancing, the written word, nature or silence the Lord is waiting for us to spend time with him. Once the Magi […]
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A Christmas Carol was written and composed by Charles Ives in 1897. The song appeared in his collection 114 songs which was published in 1922. He self-published these never before seen songs. By the early 1920s, he decided to publish more than 150 abandoned compositions. Charles Ives was born in 1874 in Danbury, Connecticut. His love of music was inherited […]
Read more In the past years, we have studied the eyewitness to Christmas from the viewpoint of the Virgin Mary, Elizabeth and Zacharias, Joseph, and the angels. This year, we are going to journey with the Wise Men or Magi to visit the Christ Child. “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars […]
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Time has passed and Jesus is probably a young toddler by this point. The Wise Men come to visit Mary, Joseph and Jesus, but with them arrives a threat from King Herod. Herod is afraid that this “king” will take his place and more importantly his throne and kingdom. When they left, an angel appeared to Joseph. Once again, the […]
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Carol of the Bells is another popular Christmas Carol, but actually began as a New Year’s song. The song was composed by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914. He was approached by the Conductor of the Ukrainian Republic Choir Oleksander Koshyts to create a song based on traditional Ukranian folk chants. The original folk song was written in a pre-Christian […]
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Last week, we spent with the shepherds who had first one angel and then a host of angels appear to them. The shepherds then made their way to Bethlehem to see the child they were told about. The child was now a little over a week old and the time had come to circumcise him. The Law, since the time […]
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