12/29/24 Christmas Carols “Three Christmas Songs”

26 Dec 12/29/24 Christmas Carols “Three Christmas Songs”

12/29/24   Christmas Carols   “Three Christmas Songs”

I remember last week I talked a little about how this Christmas season just kind of snuck up on us due to the late Thanksgiving.  Of course it didn’t but it seems that way.  As fast as Christmas came, it is now over and it will be about 360 days before it happens again.  One of the things that happened this year is that I don’t think we got to sing enough Christmas songs.  Listening to Christmas songs on the radio is ok but I really love to sing these songs.  That is why I decided to have a more musical Sunday today so we can sing some of our favorites.  Hopefully this will be fun and you can do it again.

Let’s start today with a little fun.  I will give you an alternate title and you give me the real title.  Here we go.  1. Bleached Yule-White Christmas  2. Righteous Darkness-Oh Holy Night  3. Singular Yearning for the Twin Anterior Incisors- All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth  4.  Far Off Feeder-Away in a Manger  And of course one of my favorites 5. Delight for This Planet- Joy to the World.

Anyway, today, I have chosen 3 Christmas hymns to be part of the sermon.  The first song is a favorite and many a Christmas program has featured it.  That might even be where many of us learned the words.  This song was written in the 1850’s by a man named John H. Hopkins, Jr.  He had been a newspaper reporter when he decided to enroll in General Theological Seminary in Manhattan which was founded a few years before by the man who wrote the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Hopkins became a music instructor at the new seminary and he wrote “We Three Kings” for a Christmas pageant in 1857.  It was a fairly complicated song and yet it was so easy for children to learn and remember.  He would later be ordained and lead two churches in addition to his music duties.

I would say that there was nothing overly significant about this man.  He came to love the Lord a little later in life.  This led him to be fairly successful in all he did.  There is something here for all of us to remember.  Remember that if God sets you to a task, you can do it.  With the help of Jesus, you can do anything.  Also try to remember to give the credit where the credit belongs.  Jesus gets all the credit.  This is a hard concept.  I have had people argue with me about this.  They may say that I did a wonderful job on this or that.  I will try to deflect this a little as I say “Praise the Lord” for whatever we did together.  Now let’s do all this together and sing “We Three Kings” which is found on #254

The next song we look at is also one of my favorites.  Let’s face it.  Just about all Christmas carols are one of my favorites.  “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was written by Charles Wesley and changed a little by George Whitefield.

If you remember your Methodism, Charles Wesley was the brother of John Wesley who founded the Methodist Church.  I would say that they were really partners in the founding and running of the early church.  It was Charles Wesley who first had his heart warmed as the Holy Spirit entered his life.  He then told brother John about this and he too went to Aldersgate where the Spirit came upon him.

Both the Wesley brothers wrote hymns.  However, John wrote more prose about ways for the church to grow and add people while Charles, who was also a great preacher, focused more on writing music.  It is said that he averaged writing 10 poetic lines a day and wrote close to 9000 hymns in 50 years.  That is writing a song every 2 days for 50 years.  This was done in the 1700’s and we still sing many of them today like, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

The Wesley brothers are some of my favorite people in history.  At the time in England, church was just for the rich and the elite.  These two fellows went against every grain of society of the time to take this beautiful Gospel message to the poor.  They preached at the entrances of mines and factories.  Any place where they could find poor people gathered, they preached.  They not only preached but they invited people to know Jesus at every service and served communion every day if not more often.  Then on top of all this, they wrote music.  Although John didn’t write as much music, he did write thousands of pages of sermons and instructions on how to live like a Christian.  We still study him today, 250 odd years later.  We are very fortunate that we also have Charles who wrote his theology in music.  This is an early hymn for Charles that he wrote in 1739.  Now let the words speak to you as we sing, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.’      240

All of these songs are works of people who had the Holy Spirit guiding them whether they acknowledged Him or not and this next one is no exception.  Phillip Brooks was a large man at 6’6’’ and 300 pounds.  He was considered to be one of the finest preachers of the time but had other shortcomings.  This brings me to a point that is sometimes overlooked in preachers and pastors.  We all have different sets of gifts we bring to the table.  Brooks was obviously no different.  What counts is the message.  I know of a preacher who is not necessarily that dynamic but he is preaching from the Bible and his church is full.

Anyway, Brooks made a trip to the Holy Land in 1865 and he saw the sights as he rode on horseback.  It was a moving experience for him but there were no immediate results.  Then 3 years later he wanted to compose a song for the children at Christmas.  He struggled and nothing would come to him until it was Christmas Eve.  Then he remembered the time he had been standing on Holy Ground in Bethlehem.  The song came out in just a very short time.  Once again listen for the words to speak to you as we sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”    230

The point of these little biographies which came from Robert J. Morgan’s books, “Then Sings My Soul” is to point out to you some of the meanings of some of these great Christmas carols.  As I have alluded to in the past, they will also show how the Holy Spirit will use you.  You don’t even have to believe or believe that strongly.  You might not have the best theology or you may be rock solid Christians.  God will take you and use you as you are.  I think we should all praise the Lord for that.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  And Happy New Year.  Let’s pray.