Notes on the Notes – December 28, 2025
First Sunday After Christmas
This week’s music:
“Joy is Now in Every Place” (VU #45)
“Joy is now in every place,
Christmas lightens every face;
Now be with us, in your grace,
O hear us, bless us, holy Jesus.
May the star that shone that night,
Making your poor stable bright,
Fill our hearts with love and light,
O hear us, bless us, holy Jesus.
Through the New Year let it stay,
Leading us upon your way,
Making Christmas every day,
O hear us, bless us, holy Jesus.
Now and ever may we find
Your good news to fill our mind:
Peace and love to humankind,
O hear us, bless us, holy Jesus.”
According to the Canadian Youth Hymnal (1939), the source of this carol was Child Education, December 1929, although the author of the words is unknown. The lyrics bridge the time between Christmas and the New Year, encouraging us to keep the good news of Jesus’ birth in our minds and actions. The German carol tune has been in use since the 1500s, when it was used in medieval mystery plays about the nativity. It is the tune for the German carol “Joseph lieber, Joseph mein.”
“Joy, Joy, Joy” (VU #47 verse 3)
“Joy, joy, joy; glad tidings of great joy!
For through God’s holy incarnation Christ is born for our salvation.
Joy, joy, joy; glad tidings of great joy!”
“Still, Still, Still” is an Austrian Christmas carol and lullaby. The melody is a folk tune (authorship unknown) from the State of Salzburg. The tune appeared for the first time in 1865 in a folksong collection of Maria Vinzenz Süß (1802-1868), founder of the Salzburg Museum; it has changed slightly over the years but remains attributed to G. Götsch. This week we will be using the third verse of the carol as printed in Voices United as our response to the Words of Assurance.
See a version of the carol at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGohh1gGTug&list=RDtGohh1gGTug&start_radio=1
To hear the carol sung in German, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ZgDLCf4QQ
“When Mary and Joseph Sought Shelter”
“When Mary and Joseph sought safety and shelter,
Who welcomed them gladly? Who said, “Come and stay”?
Who said, “Come inside here”? Who gave food and water?
Who offered a place to keep cold winds away?
O Lord, we remember, and sometimes we wonder:
You no longer need a small bed filled with hay.
So how can we welcome you, Jesus our Savior?
And how can we show that we love you today?
We look all around us and see the world’s children,
And so we remember they’re precious to you.
As nations have chosen to help or to hurt them,
O Lord, we confess nations do unto you.
The youth in detention, the poor, hungry orphan,
The neighbor, the stranger, the child in the pew:
May we reach in love and give safety and welcome.
By loving God’s children, we welcome you, too.”
The words for this modern hymn were written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette in 2018. This week, we read and reflect on Herod and and Jesus’ immigrant status as described in the Gospel of Matthew. When speaking about the hymn Carolyn Winfrey Gillette notes: “As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, who came to us as a little child, we pray for children today, including those separated from their families at the border between the United States and Mexico, the thousands of immigrant children and youth who are in detention centers in the U.S., and the little ones who must appear in court before an immigration judge alone. When we work for the rights of children and families, we are giving a gift to Jesus.”
The tune we will be using is ASH GROVE, which can be found with the hymn “Let All Things Now Living” at #242 in Voices United.
“When Heaven’s Bright with Mystery” (VU #93)
“When heaven’s bright with mystery and science searches nature’s art,
When all creation yearns for peace and hope sinks deep in human hearts,
Appear to us, O Holy Light; lift from our eyes the shades of night.
When Herod barters power and lives and Rachel’s weeping fills the night,
When suffering’s mask marks every face, and Love’s a refugee in flight,
Reveal to us your word of grace and make us witness to your peace.
When fragile faith, like desert wind, blows dry and empty, hope erased,
When withered grass and fading flower proclaim again our day’s brief space,
Breathe on the clay of our despair and work a new creation there.
When heaven’s bright with mystery and stars still lead an unknown way,
When love still lights a gentle path where courts of power can hold no sway,
There with the Magi, let us kneel, our gifts to share, God’s world to heal.”
The words for this hymn were written by Rob Johns, a United Church minister in Winnipeg, as a submission for Voices United (1985). Each verse is set up like a when/then pairing of what we see happening in our world and our request for God’s response in us. The reference to Herod and Rachel comes from the book of Matthew, where Herod’s slaughter of the innocents fulfills a prophecy from Jeremiah. Although the words reference the Biblical narrative, it is quite easy to think of events happening in our modern times that mirror the lyrics of the hymn.
The words are set to THE SUSSEX CAROL, which is a folk tune that was collected in Sussex in 1904 and which is often referred to by it’s first line “On Christmas night all Christians sing.”
See the hymn sung in worship at: https://youtu.be/zgHPF9cL3MM
“What Can I Give Him?” (VU #55 v. 4)
“What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him—give my heart.“
In 1872, poet Christina Rossetti imaginatively placed the holy birth not in warm Bethlehem, but in her chillier and snow-bound native England. Her poem first appeared as a hymn with Gustav Holst’s setting in 1906. We will be using the fourth verse of the carol as our Offering response.
See Quire Cleveland perform the carol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE0aIQp9V4s
“God Gives Us a Future”
“God gives us a future, daring us to go
Into dreams and dangers on a path unknown.
We will face tomorrow in the Spirit’s power,
We will let God change us, for new life starts now.
We must leave behind us sins of yesterday,
For God’s new beginning is a better way.
Fear and doubt and habit must not hold us back:
God gives hope, and insight, and the strength we lack.
Holy Spirit, teach us how to read the signs,
How to meet the challenge of our troubled times.
Love us into action, stir us into prayer,
Till we choose God’s life, and find our future there.”
This hymn has words by Elizabeth J. Smith and encourages us to boldly face the future with God. The tune we will be using is NOEL NOUVELET, a French carol tune from the late 15th century, known in English as the carol, “Christmas Comes Anew.” It can also be found paired with the hymn “Jesus Christ is Waiting” at VU #117.
“O Light of Nations, Fill the Earth” (VU #84 verse 4)
“O Light of Nations, fill the earth;
Our faith and hope and love renew.
Come, lead the peoples to your peace,
As stars once led the way to you.”
We will be using the fourth verse of the hymn “O Radiant Christ, Incarnate Word” as our benediction response this week. The words were written by Ruth Duck (1991).
