Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
Christmas Canon is set to Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. Paul O’Neill provided lyrics to Pachelbel’s music. The song is performed by Trans-Siberian Orchestra and a departure from their normal rock arrangements. The group is accompanied by a children’s choir and was released on the 1998 album The Christmas Attic. As on 2016, the song ranked 7th among the all-time […]
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This is the Day is an upbeat song that reminds us that this is the day the Lord has made, we should be happy and rejoice. The hymn is based on Psalm 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The practice of writing songs based off of scripture dates […]
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A great and mighty wonder is a little-known Christmas Carol. The hymn is German in origin. The hymn was written by St. Germanus I. He was born in Constantinople of a patrician family in 634 Greece. He was ordained in Constantinople and subsequently became bishop of Cyzicus. He was present at the Synod of Constantinople in 712, which restored the […]
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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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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 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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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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While by My Sheep was a traditional German carol by Nach Friedrich von Spee. The hymn was written in 1623 and known as Als ich bei meinen Schafen wacht. Hugo Jüngst arranged the text to a traditional German melody. Theodore Baker translated the carol into English.
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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 […]
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I’m familiar with the song This Ole House, but knew nothing of it’s origin. Only when researching the story behind another song, did I discover the story behind this song. The song was written by Carl Stuart Hamblen, who was the author of Until Then and It Is No Secret {What God Can Do}. Hamblen and his friend and fellow […]
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It Is No Secret, was written by Craig Stuart Hamblen, who also wrote Until Then. Hamblen was the son of a Methodist minister and is considered one of radio’s first “singing cowboys”. He lived a life of “destructive behavior” before attending a Billy Graham crusade in 1949. He met Rev. Graham when he appeared on Hamblen’s radio show. He was […]
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The song Through It All was written by Andráe Crouch and is his biography and testimony wrapped up into one. Andráe Crouch was born on July 1, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. He experienced devesating loss when he lost his father, mother and brother all within two years of one another. He said, “Probably the hardest time in my life…Just […]
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There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit was written by gospel songwriter Doris Mae Akers. She was born in Brookfield, Missouri on May 21, 1923. She was one of ten children and developed an interest in music at an early age. By the age of six, she had taught herself to play piano by ear. She wrote her first song, “Keep the […]
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Pastor Louis Giglio and singer Chris Tomlin discussed writing a song which would help people who were walking through the valley of grief and loss. In a 2011 interview Chris Tomlin shared, “”We were sitting across a table at lunch one day and he said, ‘Man, I feel like there needs to be more songs for people who are really […]
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You Are My King {Amazing Love} is a contemporary song that has become very popular. The song talks about God’s amazing love for us, how we are forgiven, and how Jesus is our King and he loved us enough to die for us on the cross. This sacrifice is the amazing love the song refers to. The song was written […]
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Holy Ground is a song that once again shows the power of God. Geron Davis was nineteen years old when his minister father ask him to write a song for the new building their church was dedicating in Savannah, Tennessee. Weeks before the dedication his father asked him to write a song and Davis kept meaning to, but either inspiration […]
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Lord Lift My Feet on Higher Ground was written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. Oatman was born on April 21, 1856 in Medford, New Jersey. He was a businessman and wrote over 5,000 hymns in his spare time. He did not begin writing hymns until he was 36 years old and was never paid for more than $1.00 for any of […]
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Moment by Moment was another hymn written by Major Daniel Webster Whittle. He is also the author of I Know Whom I Have Believed. Ira Sankey recounted that while at the World’s Fair in Chicago, Rev. Henry Varley stated “I do not like the hymn, I Need Thee Every Hour. I need him Moment by Moment.” Major Whittle was impressed […]
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