Singing from Advent to Epiphany –

Christmas Carols


Luke 1:8-17, In the Bleak Midwinter
Luke 1:26-33, Ave Maria
Random Walk in a Gallery of Religious Art, Step 68: Luke 1:26-38, Annunciation, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Micah 5:2-5a, O Little Town of Bethlehem
Matthew 1:18-25, Silent Night, Holy Night
Luke 2:1-7, Away in a Manger

Luke 2:8-14, The First Noel
Luke 2:15-18, Angels We Have Heard On High
Luke 1:46-55, There's a Song in the Air
Psalm 23, While Shepherd Watched Their Flocks
Isaiah 9:6-7, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (vs. 3)

Luke 2:14, It Came upon the Midnight Clear
Psalm 42:1-6a; Psalm 121, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (vs. 4)
John 1:1-5, 14, O Come, All Ye Faithful (vs. 3)
Psalm 119:174-176, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
John 11:21-27, 34-44, Good Christian Men, Rejoice (vs. 3)

More Songs for Advent through Epiphany

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 Bethlehem. Click to enlarge. See below for provenance.


Luke 1:8-17, In the Bleak Midwinter (12/2/2009)

Today we start looking at Christmas carols with "In the Bleak Midwinter." The Jewish calendar has 12 regular months, like Nissan, which is the month Passover comes in, and Teves, which is the month that Hanukkah comes in. It's fundamentally a lunar calendar, but since the lunar month is 29.5 days long and the lunar year rapidly gets out of sync with the solar year, there's a fairly complicated system of leap months. I believe we are currently in the year 5770. The point is that the Biblical writers could have given us the date for every recorded event, but they normally didn't, apparently not considering that the dates were all that important.

One event that we don't know the date of – or even the month or season – is Jesus' birth; however, the Christ mass has been celebrated on Dec. 25 since about the year 350 A.D. Since there's no scriptural basis for the winter, snow, or ice in this carol, our reading is about Zechariah and the angel Gabriel, who announced the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist.
Luke 1:26-33, Ave Maria (12/3/2009)

The first three lines of Ave Maria come from today's scripture reading in Luke. Notice that Gabriel has been sent to Mary as well as to Zechariah, but since she doesn't question his credentials, he's nicer to her.
Micah 5:2-5a, O Little Town of Bethlehem (12/4/2009)

Bethlehem's primary importance came from its status as the hometown of King David and the prophecy of Micah that the Messiah would come from there. This made sense, because the Messiah was going to be a descendant of David. This is one reason the claim that Jesus was the Messiah met with some skepticism: he was from Nazareth, as far as anybody knew. Nathaniel said, "Can any good thing come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46) After Jesus gave sight to the man blind from birth, one objection made by the religious authorities was, "We don't know where he came from." The blind man sneered, "He gave sight to someone blind from birth, and you don't know where he came from?!" (John 9:29-30) Some people argued that in fact no one would know where the Messiah came from (apparently a minority view), and since they did know where Jesus was from (Nazareth), he couldn't be the Messiah (John 7:27). Ironically, they in fact didn't know where he was from – the little town of Bethlehem.
Matthew 1:18-25, Silent Night, Holy Night (12/7/2009)

Quick! What did the angels sing? Not "Alleluia" at all, but reather "Glory to God in the highest." The English "alleluia," as we all know by now, is a direct transfer from the Greek alleluia, which is a transliteration, not translation, of the Hebrew hallelujah. Whenever you see "Praise God!" in your Old Testament, you know that the Hebrew has hallelujah, which means, "y'all praise God!"
Luke 2:1-7, Away in a Manger (12/8/2009)

Caeser Augustus ruled the Roman empire from 31 BC until AD 14. Herod the Great, who ruled Judea when Jesus was born, died about 4 BC. There is some disagreement about whether Quirinius was "governor" or "governing" in Syria at the time of Jesus' birth; apparently he really was the "governor" at least once, but that time seems to have been too late for the scripture below. Consequently many historians have thought that Luke was mistaken; more recent evidence suggests that Quirinius may have been governor or governing in Syria twice, the earlier time being the one Luke is referring to. Luke has a well-deserved reputation for meticulous accuracy, so I suspect that the historians were missing some of the facts, and that Quirinius was doing something in Syria before the death of Herod.
Luke 2:8-14, The First Noel (12/9/2009)

I love this! The International Standard Version actually has "Army" in this passage, which is what a host is! Have you noticed that the first thing angels say is "Don't be afraid"? That's because many of them are soldiers, and they appear out of nowhere, carrying a sword, sometimes a flaming sword! To be honest, the soldier angels are the least scary of the bunch. No wonder people are terrified. The whole image of an angel as a somewhat anorexic-looking 16-year-old has no basis in scripture.

A few days ago, I got a Christmas postcard with this symbol
No-L
and had to have it explained to me. What's a "noel," does anybody know? I didn't, so I looked it up. It means "Christmas carol" (or just "Christmas'). It's not actually what the angel said, but what he did say was a Christmas carol of sorts, and he did indeed say it to shepherds out in the fields. There's a one in four chance that it was winter, as previously discussed.
Luke 2:15-18, Angels We Have Heard On High (12/10/2009)

Today's carol has the scripture, the whole scripture, and almost nothing but the scripture, except that the angels reportedly sang the chorus in Greek, not Latin.
Luke 1:46-55, There's a Song in the Air (12/11/2009)

I've read a commentary or two and footnotes that strongly imply that the Song of Mary wasn't Mary's song at all, but Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2: 1-10), repackaged by Luke to make Mary look good. Nah. In the first place, the two songs aren't all that much alike. While Mary makes quite a few scriptural allusions, only one is from the Song of Hannah, and that one could also refer to two other Old Testament passages. Most of the ideas Mary expresses permeate the scripture, so she may not have had any of these exact verses in mind. In the second place, if you read James and Jude, not to mention the Gospels, you will see that Jesus' whole family quoted scripture as naturally as they breathed. I suspect they learned this habit from their mother.

While we're on the topic of footnotes, wouldn't this be a great time to tell Santa that you want a good, modern translation of the Bible, one that has study notes and cross-references?
Psalm 23, While Shepherd Watched Their Flocks (12/16/2009)

It is fitting that shepherds were the first people outside the immediate family to learn of Jesus' birth. The image of God as the shepherd of Israel is an ancient one, and the image of God's Messiah as a shepherd is common in Messianic prophecy. When Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd," his listeners knew he was asserting that he himself was the expected Messiah.
Isaiah 9:6-7, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (vs. 3) (12/18/2009)

Could I just take a moment here to whine about politically correct hymnals? You know by now that I like the so-called "gender-neutral" translations of the Bible because in fact they represent the Hebrew and Greek more accurately (at least in this particular point). However, "Born to raise us from the earth" is NOT a gender-neutral version of "Born to raise the sons of earth."

"Sons of earth" doesn't mean "people who live on the earth," as opposed to people who live somewhere else, like the moon. Instead, it means "people who think earthly thoughts and do earthly deeds," as opposed to people who have Godly thoughts and do Godly deeds.

When Jesus was born to raise the sons of earth, he was born to give them birth into the Holy Spirit and thereby transform them from earthly people into Godly people. They will not be born again on another planet. NASA can raise us from the earth to the moon, and even if someday people are born there, that won't guarantee them second birth. This particular change represents a vast change in the theology of today's hymn, not just an updating of the words, and I don't like it.
Luke 2:14, It Came upon the Midnight Clear (12/17/2009)

Have you seen this bumper sticker? It's pertinent to today's Christmas carol, and it's an accurate commentary on today's scripture. We all learned in Sunday School and in Christmas carols and cards that the angels said, "Peace on earth, good will to men," that is, to all people. But it turns out that the best and oldest manuscripts (not available to early translators) have something slightly different: "Peace on earth to men who have [God's] good will." The sad fact is that even Christmas doesn't bring peace and good will to all. Peace comes only to those who have God's good will through knowing God. I don't normally recommend bumper-sticker theology, but this particular one is correct.
Psalm 42:1-6a; Psalm 121, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (vs. 4) (12/21/2009)

One thing wrong with "Happy Holidays!" is that not everyone is happy during the holidays. If you are sick in body, mind, or soul; if you have lost a loved one recently; if you are helpless, homeless, or hungry, then it may be impossible for you to feel happy. That's okay. God's shoulders are big enough to take on our sorrow.
John 1:1-5, 14, O Come, All Ye Faithful (vs. 3) (12/23/2009)

The incarnation is one of the two or three greatest mysteries of the Christian faith. Remember that "mystery" does not, biblically speaking, mean "a problem to be solved." Instead, it means "a secret," which can only be revealed. God spoke the universe into existence, and later that word became a person. How? It's a mystery.
Psalm 119:174-176, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (12/24/2009)

The best of the Christmas carols contain the entire gospel message. Today's carol hearkens back to the ancient image of God's people as a flock of sheep, prone to go astray and wander into the paths of Satan. What comfort and joy to know that Jesus Christ was born to come after us!
John 11:21-27, 34-44, Good Christian Men, Rejoice (vs. 3) (Christmas Day, 12/25/2009)

To "evangelize" people is to tell them good news. "Evangel" means "good news." Any Christmas carol I happen to be listening to tends to be my favorite, but today's carol may be my favorite favorite. It's got a great tune and a cheerful tempo, and the words contain almost the entire gospel, which, by the way, also means "good news." I especially like the last verse, which is the good news that Jesus brought to Martha and Mary.
More Songs for Advent through Epiphany
Advent Psalms
Hanukkah Songs
Epiphany Hymns

Copyright 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016 by Regina L. Hunter. All rights reserved. This page has been prepared for the web site by RPB.

The illustration showing Bethlehem is from the Binns family Bible, now in the private collection of Regina L. Hunter.

Opinions expressed on this page are solely those of the author, Regina Hunter, and may or may not be shared by the sponsors or the Bible-study participants.  Thanks to the Holy Spirit for any useful ideas presented here, and thanks to all the readers for their support and enthusiasm.  All errors are, of course, the sole responsibility of the author.

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