Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
Peter Cornelius, a German composer, wrote “The Three Kings” under the oritinal title “Die Könige” for a vocal soloist. The carol describes the visit of the Biblical Magi to the Infant Jesus during the Nativity and is also used as an Epiphany anthem. It is also known by the title “Three Kings From Persian Lands Afar”. Cornelius wrote his first […]
Read moreToday is the second of our 12 Days of Christmas and it’s a joy to welcome Jennifer Car. She’s sharing a short excerpt from her book and then a Christmas devotional. Excerpt from The Lost and Found, by Jennifer Carr “As we consider the Christmas season, we are reminded of how Mary and Joseph were forced to leave the comfort […]
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“Mary’s Boy Child” is a Christmas song written by Jester Hariston in 1956. According to Wikipedia, a friend asked Hairston to write a song for a birthday party. Hairston wrote the song with a calypson rhythm “because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song’s original title was “He Pone and Chocolate Tea”, pone being a […]
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“Jesus, the Light of the World” was arranged by George D. Elderkin. It was first published with a collection of Christmas Carols in 1890 in “Gift of Finest Wheat”. He seems to have arranged this composition from Charles Wesley’s hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Elderkin’s arrangement drew upon the first two lines of Wesley’s hymns in stanzas 1, 2, […]
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“Gabriel’s Message” is a Christmas folk carol that tells of Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would become the mother of the Christ. The song is also known as “The angel Gabriel from heaven came” from the first line and based on the passage from Luke 1:46-55. For this reason the text is known as “The Magnificat.” The […]
Read moreIt’s a pleasure to host Becky Van Vleet as she shares a Christmas memory and how it inspired her creativity. She’s also hosting the day over on my Facebook page: Leagh’s Little Bit of Christmas. We’d love to have you join us. What kind of Christmas tree topper will you use this year? The tree topper that appears at the […]
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Mary, mother of Jesus. My heart can barely grasp what an extraordinary woman she must have been to be chosen the mother of the world’s Savior. I imagine her perfect, without sin. Though this is unlikely, God blessed her above all women. Yet His path for Mary wasn’t easy. To avoid disgrace as an unwed mother, God instructed her fiancée […]
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Thank you so much for hosting me today! As a child, each Sunday we could count on roast beef for dinner. If we’d lost all calendars and had no idea what day it was, seeing roast beef on the table would give us a clue it was at least Sunday. Honestly, because it was so predictable, I made fun of […]
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The “Sussex Carol” is a popular Christmas Carol in Britain. Luke Wadding, a 17th Century Irish Bishop, first published the song in 1684. It is unknown whether he wrote the song himself or had recorded it from earlier coposers. The text and tune were discovered by Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The men wrote the song down as sung […]
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Thanks to Caesar Augustus’s demand for a census, which Mary didn’t mind, since it rescued her from Nazareth, Mary and Joseph trod the same crowded road Mary had six months ago. The donkey plodded along, and she recalled arranging her clothing to mask her expanding abdomen when she’d walked back into Nazareth after her visit with Elizabeth. Mary planned to […]
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In 1975, I accepted Jesus Christ’s work on the cross for my salvation, and a few months later, my parents sold my childhood home. We moved into a new community for people over 55. Because of my parents’ ages, they allowed me in. The promise of the clubhouse pool helped sell me on the idea and get excited. The day […]
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I love the holiday season. It’s not just Christmas—it’s the love, anticipation, grace, and thankfulness that fills our house every November, December, and January. I start decorating the first weekend of November, and I have to pace myself when it comes to wrapping presents, donating gifts, and baking (and baking and baking) so I don’t do it all in one […]
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I have found two different stories for this hymn. The first states it is believed “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy” was written Jamaican singer-songwriter Oswald Dunbar sometime in the early 1960s. Legend states he adapted the lyrics from an earlier Jamaican folk song “Livvy’s Song” to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The text follows the story as […]
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After a long walk from Nazareth with Daniel’s family, finally Elizabeth’s shaky soprano drifted over her wall, her words from a psalm of David Mary recognized. “You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” The swish of her broom kept time to […]
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“In dulci jubilo” means in sweet rejoicing in Latin. The original text is believed to have been written around 1328 by Heinrich Seuse, a German mystic. According to folklore, “Seuse heard angels sing these words and joined them in a dance of worship.” The tune first appears in a manuscript dating around 1400. Many historians believe the melody may have […]
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“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” –Aesop The holidays have arrived, dressed in glitter, bearing the aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, and pine. Traffic has jammed around malls and supercenters. And who can forget the increase of events? Parties, special church services, and family gatherings, to name a few. A time of joy, laughter, and togetherness. […]
Read moreEnglish poet Christina Rosetti published a poem under the title “A Christmas Carol” in January 1872 issue of Scribner’s Monthly. Composer Gustav Holst composed a setting to her words in 1906. The new hymn appeared in The English Hymnal under the title “In the Bleak Midwinter”. In 1909, Harold Darke composed an anthem for the piece, which is widely performed […]
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Star of the East was originally named “Stern über Bethlehem”. In 1883, composer Amanda Kennedy composed a melody “Star of the Sea”. George Cooper, a New York lyricists, wrote the lyrics in 1890. The song is not the same as the folk carol “Star in the East” or English carol “Star of the East”. Judy Garland recorded the song in 1941.
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Shepherds Arise! Be Not Afraid is first recorded by a church in Dorset England. The carol dates back to the 19th century. The carol was first published in the 1926 A Collection of Dorset Carols. The book was published by William Adair Pickard-Cambridge, a classics scholar and organists, who obtained several manuscripts from the early 19th Century. The author of Shepherd’s Arise in unknown and was […]
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The carol originally appeared as a poem written by Cecil Frances Alexander. The poem was first published in the 1848 Hymns for Little Children. The poem tells the story of the nativity and was combined in a collection with other well-known hymns such as “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “There is a Green Hill Far Away”. The following year, Henry […]
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