Episodes
Sunday Dec 27, 2020
King Forever, Ceasing Never
Sunday Dec 27, 2020
Sunday Dec 27, 2020
Advent series: Finding Christmas in the Carols | Julie Kocher, speaker
We explore the songs born from our joy that Christ has entered the world as we find Christmas in the carols.
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Christmas Eve: All is Calm. All is Bright.
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Thursday Dec 24, 2020
Advent series: Finding Christmas in the Carols | Mark Miller, speaker
We explore the songs born from our joy that Christ has entered the world as we find Christmas in the carols.
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Advent, Week 4: Repeat the Sounding Joy
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Advent series: Finding Christmas in the Carols | Mark Miller, speaker
We explore the songs born from our joy that Christ has entered the world as we find Christmas in the carols.
Christmas joy finds its greatest expression in song, but the song we most associate with singing joy at Christmas (Joy to the World) doesn’t mention anything about babies, mangers, Mary, shepherds or wisemen. Isaac Watts didn’t set out to write a Christmas song. He wanted rework the Psalms of David (Ps. 98 here) in light of Jesus. It can be read as much about the second coming as the first. As in all of advent we see in this song the promise (Psalm 98), the fulfillment in Jesus’ birth and the ultimate fulfillment when Christ comes again and all creation is restored. So past, present and future let us sing for joy.
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Advent, Week 3: Then Pealed the Bells More Loud and Deep
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Advent series: Finding Christmas in the Carols | Mark Miller, speaker
We explore the songs born from our joy that Christ has entered the world as we find Christmas in the carols.
The song “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was written by a worried father during the Civil War. In it he sees the sound of the cannons drowning out the sound of the carols and he despairs. Where is this “peace on earth” the angels promise? But he ends with this affirmation: Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Historians say that many of the traditions we associate with Christmas in America today were born out of the worries, fears, and anxiety of the Civil War and the desire for loved ones to be gathered together at home in peace. The worries, fears, and anxieties of our lives today may drown out the message of the carols but Christ is the Prince of Peace. In Him we find peace.
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Advent, Week 2: Hark, How All the Welkin Rings
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Sunday Dec 06, 2020
Advent series: Finding Christmas in the Carols | Mark Miller, speaker
We explore the songs born from our joy that Christ has entered the world as we find Christmas in the carols.
The song “Hark! How All the Welkin Rings” (an awful title) was originally put to music from a cantata about the printing press (#boring), but God used these less than stellar things to bring us the carol we know and love today, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." God is always using things of little value or notoriety, ordinary common things (like Mary), to accomplish his purposes. Mary’s song from Luke 1 (The Magnificat) celebrates this theme. Today, God still uses ordinary people like us to glorify Him and accomplish His purposes.