Keeping Christ in Christmas- Dec. 11- Meditating on God's Truth in Christmas Carols

I still remember the first time I could sing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” all the way through in the church service when I was a child. I was so excited to sing through the whole song and be able to keep up with all the words. Every Christmas, I enjoyed watching the Charlie Brown Christmas program because "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was the hymn the Peanuts Gang sang at the end of the program. (This is the picture of the peanuts gang singing the famous hymn.)

I got to meditating on some of the lyrics of the Christmas Hymn today. It's more than a great Christmas Hymn to sing. It's God's truth word by word. How it warms my heart when I hear the song played over the speakers in the mall or in a store. I sometimes stop and pray while the song is playing that someone in the store would hear the words and that their heart would be opened to hearing about Jesus.

One of my favorite phrases in the song is, "Life and Light to all He brings.."

What does scripture tell us about this phrase?

• Psalm 56:13
  "For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."
• Proverbs 8:35
  "For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD."
• John 11:25
  "Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;..."
   The life of Christ brings us favor with God. His light shines on a clear stable path for us to walk on while we're here on earth. And the life of Christ carries us away from eternal death. Christmas is more than the story of the manger. It is the story of God, the ever lasting, self-existent one - who always was and always will be that humbled Himself and made Himself nothing- a tiny helpless babe to come and live among a sinful people and bring life and light back to our dark hearts forever. He came to bring us back into a right relationship with God. He didn't leave us in the dark.                                                                                So who wrote "Hark the Herald Angels sing?" This is Charles Wesley. He wrote the hymn. Did you know he and John Wesley were brothers? The founded the Methodist denomination. In fact, Charles, seen here in the picture is #18 of 19 children. It is said that he wrote close to 6,000 hymns in his lifetime. Can you imagine! Wow! One of the other hymns he wrote that I love is "Come thou Long Expected Jesus." It's another of my favorites.

AS you go about your day, one of the ways you can take the old Christmas hymns (that seem SO FAMILIAR!!!!) and make them more special is to glean a phrase and meditate on it throughout the day, the week. Look up scripture to it, pray over it and Give God praise for writing truth through these hymn writers.

To read more about the original "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" go to Christianity Today in the link below. I think you will find it very interesting.

Love you friends. Praying you are remembering Christ everyday during this Christmas season! He is WHY we celebrate!

Life and Light!

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: From Wesley to Our Hymnals Christianity Today A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction