Notes on the Notes – December 24, 2023
Christmas Eve Service Music:
“A Candle is Burning” (VU #6)
“A candle is burning, a flame warm and bright,
A candle of hope in December’s dark night.
While angels sing blessing from heaven’s starry sky,
Our hearts we prepare now for Jesus is nigh.
A candle is burning, a candle of peace,
A candle to signal that conflict must cease:
For Jesus is coming to show us the way;
A message of peace humbly laid in the hay.
A candle is burning, a candle of joy,
A candle to welcome brave Mary’s new boy.
Our hearts fill with wonder, and eyes light and glow
As joy brightens winter like sunshine on snow.
A candle is burning, a candle of love,
A candle to point us to heaven above.
A baby for Christmas, a wonderful birth,
For Jesus is bringing God’s love to our earth.
We honour Messiah with Christ-candle’s flame,
Our Christmas Eve candles glad tidings proclaim.
O come, all you faithful, rejoice in this night,
As God comes among us, the Christian’s true light.”
As we light the candles in our Advent wreath we will sing the words written by Sandra Dean (1986) with music written for the carol “Away in a Manger” by James R. Murray (1887).
Hear an instrumental version of the tune at: https://youtu.be/gVWdAaNXg6c
“O Come, All Ye Faithful” (VU #60 v 1, 3, 5)
The original four verses of “O Come All Ye Faithful” were discovered in an eighteenth century Jacobean manuscript with John Francis Wade’s signature. At one time historians believed that Wade had simply discovered an ancient hymn by an unknown author, possibly St. Bonaventura, a thirteenth century Italian scholar. Further examination, however, has led many to believe that Wade wrote both the words and music of this hymn himself. The lyrics are a celebration of the birth of Jesus.
“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him, born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above;
Glory to God in the highest;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”
See Pentatonix’s interpretation of the carol at: https://youtu.be/Mj7Pr42rliI
See the carol in worship at Westminster Abbey: https://youtu.be/l1wHyMR_SCA
Hear Frank Sinatra sing the carol at: https://youtu.be/NczzSYC-s10
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” (VU #64)
“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary; and gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King, and peace to all on earth.
How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessed gift of heaven.
No ear may hear his coming; but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still the dear Christ enters in.
O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in; be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.”
The text for “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his church and his organist, Lewis Redner, added the music. Redner’s tune, simply titled ST. LOUIS, is the tune used most often for this carol in the United States and Canada, but it may also be sung to the tune FOREST GREEN instead.
See Sarah McLachlan sing this carol at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyPMDD8fGeA
Sing along at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpHY3jU27dc
“Angels We Have Heard on High” (VU #38 v 1, 2 & 3)
“Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply,
Echoing their joyous stains.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem and see
Christ whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ, the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!”
Many years ago shepherds in the hills of southern France had a Christmas Eve custom of calling to one another, singing “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” each from his own hillside. The traditional tune that the shepherds used may have been from a late Medieval Latin chorale. It became the magnificent chorus of “Angels We Have Heard on High.”
See the boys choir Liberia perform at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7MTjm6UYYA
See the fascinating Piano Guys at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n543eKIdbUI
See Andrea Bocelli and chorus at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5iaV989_5M
“Silent Night”
“Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah,
Christ the Saviour is born, Christ the Saviour is born.
Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light;
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.”
“Silent Night” (German: “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht”) was composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Obendorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. It is the world’s most recorded Christmas song, with more than 137,000 known recordings.
See the carol with ASL translation at: https://youtu.be/3NtlsXCBb1g
See the Three Tenors at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjhVI4Q0Vfc
To hear Carrie Underwood’s version of the song, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vw–yxcDNM
“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” (VU #44)
“It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold,
“Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all-gracious King!”
The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing.
For, lo! The days are hastening on by prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold,
When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendours fling,
And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.”
‘It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’ is about the message of peace that the angels proclaimed on the first Christmas, when Jesus Christ was born. The song looks forward to a time when people will respond to the angels by living in peace with God and each other, and likens doing so to offering the angels’ song back to them.
Edward Hamilton Sears, a Unitarian minister, wrote the text of this carol during a period of social and political turmoil in Europe and the United States. It was first published in Boston in 1849, but the message still rings true today. It was one of the first times that an American writer had penned words that would become a Christmas carol. The American composer Richard Storrs Willis, who had studied music with renowned composer Felix Mendelssohn in Germany, wrote a tune called ‘CAROL’ and adapted the words of Sears’ poem to that music about a decade after the poem was first published (1850).
See Celtic Woman perform the song at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYDa4Kht6Eo
Hear a contemporary version by Mercy Me at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVkEjepjsfo
Hear Chris Tomlin’s interpretation in his song “Midnight Clear (Love Song)” at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4tGVUX3YqI
“May the Spirit of the Christ Child”
“May the Spirit of the Christ Child show us how in love to live
For the joy and peace of Christmas is for us to share and give.
May the story of God’s coming, God with us – Emmanuel,
Fill the world with light of Christmas as in awe we do God’s will.”
Our offering response tonight uses the familiar melody of ODE TO JOY. Through the words, we are reminded that it is our response and action that brings about God’s kingdom in the world.
“Hark the Herald Angels Sing” (VU #48 v. 1 & 3)
“Hark! the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled:
Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem:
Hark! the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King.
Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all hi brings, risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die;
Born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King!”
The carol we now know as “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” did not start life as such, and required at least four people to bring it to its current form. Charles Wesley wrote the original words as a Christmas Day hymn and first published it in 1739, with ten four-line verses, rather than the longer eight-line verses with refrain which we have now.
The tune was composed by Felix Mendelssohn for his Festgesang, Op. 68. It was scored for male voices with brass accompaniment, for the Gutenberg Festival in 1840 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. It was adapted into a hymn tune by William Hayman Cummings in 1856.
Hear Frank Sinatra sing at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GWFdFqLKZ4
“Joy to the World” (VU #59 v. 1, 2 & 4)
“Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
Let all their songs employ,
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the earth with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of his righteousness
and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.”
The text for this carol is a paraphrase of Psalm 88:4-9. It was written by Isaac Watts and first published in his Psalms of David in 1719.
Enjoy this carol by:
George Fox University Music department: https://youtu.be/6oOwa0CWVVQ
Boys’ choir “Libera” at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IH8A86FLs0
Bonus video:
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