Category: Blog

This Advent hymn centers around the shepherds who were the first to hear the glorious, angelic proclamation of Christ's birth. As mentioned in a previous Advent post, these shepherds were not ordinary shepherds. The more I’ve studied this, the more I’m in awe of how God orchestrated the Christmas story. Rabbi Jason Sobel says of [...]

This favorite Advent hymn has a surprising origin that I want to take some time to share. It was written by Placide Cappeau of France in 1847. Placide suffered a terrible accident at the age of 8 when a playmate shot him in the hand by mistake . He ended up losing his hand as [...]

This Advent hymn by Emily S. Elliott is one of my favorites. Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly power when Thou camest to earth for me: but in Bethlehem's home there was found no room for Thy holy nativity! O come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for [...]

Written in 1849 by Edmund Sears, this Advent hymn spans from the night of Christ's birth to the New Heaven and New Earth. The angels’ song (message of the gospel) is still sounding forth today, but the noise of this world drowns it out. The world's noise can be terribly distracting, and if we are [...]

This Polish carol originated in the early 1900’s and carries on the Advent theme from yesterday’s Away in a Manger. If you have a chance to listen to one of the links below, you will be blessed with how quiet and worshipful this song is. It truly is awesome to imagine the birth of the [...]

This child like Christmas hymn is a favorite of many. Like several others from our Advent series, it was written in the 1800’s. Martin Luther was the attributed author for years, but His authorship has come into question and cannot be proven. All we know is that it was part of a Lutheran children's book [...]

On Christmas Eve in the year 1818, St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria was preparing for the Christmas Eve service. Much to everyone's dismay, the organ wouldn't work! The young priest, Joseph Mohr was scrambling to think of what to do. The hour was getting late, and he remembered a poem he had written two [...]

This Advent hymn was written in 1848 by an Irish pastor's wife named Cecil Frances Alexander. The words to this hymn encompass the full scope of redemption in such a powerful way! Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for His bed: Mary [...]

“In 1865, the year the Civil War ended and President Lincoln was assassinated, themes of peace and quiet would probably have been welcome to Americans. In that year, the Rev. Phillips Brooks took a trip to Israel and saw Bethlehem and its surrounding fields on Christmas Eve, which eventually inspired him to write this Christmas [...]

One of the most meaningful things about Advent hymns is the worshipful nature of both the music and the lyrics. Somehow the combination of the two evokes a soul stirring response of praise and worship in our hearts. This hymn has that effect on me. See amid the winter's snow, born for us on earth [...]