A Christmas hymn that has become a family favorite of ours the past several years is "Christians, Awake!" written by John Byrom in 1749. It is a joyful hymn that speaks of Christ's birth, our need to adore him, as well as our hope in life and in our future because of him. Merry Christmas! Enjoy the beauty of this text this morning, and adore our Savior, Jesus Christ today. Christians, awake, salute the happy morn, whereon the Savior of the world was born; rise to adore th

There are some of our hymns that take beautiful classical music melodies, or styles, and incorporate them into the hymn tune. One of those is the Christmas hymn, Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light, written in a Bach chorale style, harmonized by Bach. It is a two stanza hymn that speaks of the beautiful light of heaven. Stanza one focuses on the light of the glory of God that broke forth that night when the angels appeared to the Shepherds, heralding to them the good news

There are speculations as to the actual date of the birth of Christ. We celebrate it on December 25th, in the middle of our winter season. Christmas hymnody often uses the poetic expression of winter to set the scene of the birth of Christ. It is not so much the actual season that is in view, but more of a poetic expression of the spiritual condition of the time. Winter is dark, often gloomy, and without much life. See Amid the Winter's Snow pictures the birth of Christ in su

Christmas is almost upon us. When shopping for Christmas gifts, or ingredients for Christmas baking, Christians cannot help but be bombarded with the largely secularistic Christmas music that pervades our culture. Yet there is a wonderful tradition of Christmas hymnology, much of which is rich in theological meaning. One of those hymns comes from the 12th century, entitled "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," and draws upon several descriptions of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In stanza 1