Something just occurred to me as I hummed/sang Christmas carols and hymns. If you do not believe the Bible account of creation, the fall, and redemption, many of the hymns and carols are pretty much meaningless verbiage. Let’s look at some examples.
Of course, any reference to the coming Messiah and Savior would hinge on the foundation of the fall and redemption, but let’s just stick to creation and that aspect. We may look at other aspects later.
“Joy to the World,” verse 3. “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground...far as the curse is found.” No Adam, no Eve, no Genesis 3:15, no curse, no Joy.
“The First Noel,” verse 6. (One other thought. When singing many hymns and carols and skipping verses misses a significant part of the message.) “The let us all with one accord, sing praises to our heavenly Lord, that hath made heaven and earth of naught, and with His blood mankind hath bought.” (And you can sing it with one Camry or one Impala.) Sorry, could not resist.
Another thought: If evolution is true, there would be no angels. All of the carols that mention angels would also be nonsense. You can figure out your own angel list to discard. :>) Not me.
And our friend Travis’masterpiece, “O Holy Night.” “...Long lay the world, in sin and error pining....” To eliminate that song would elicit a cry from my Mom. “Oh Horrors!” Probably with two exclamation points.
“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” v.4. “...God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.” Sounds like a good movie.
“Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee,” V. 2 “All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays, Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea, chanting bird and flowing fountain, Call us to rejoice in Thee.” That about covers it all.
“The Spacious Firmament,” by Joseph Addison based on Psalm 19 (music by Hayden) is three verses devoted to praising God for Creation. (Page 62 in the Baptist Hymnal) Link to lyrics. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/spacious-firmament-high
This is a new hymn to me, and I wish I had know about it earlier. What a message. Gets a glory. Look up some other arrangements and performances. It is worth your while.
“All Things Bright and Beautiful,”
All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. Each little flower that opens, Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colours, He made their tiny wings. The purple-headed mountain, The river running by, The sunset and the morning, That brightens up the sky. The cold wind in the winter, The pleasant summer sun, The ripe fruits in the garden, He made them every one. The tall trees in the greenwood, The meadows for our play, The rushes by the water, To gather every day. He gave us eyes to see them, And lips that we might tell How great is God Almighty, Who has made all things well.
This is another lesser known hymn. We are wasting a veritable treasure of theology and inspiration by ignoring our hymn books. (Editorial comment.)
Not Christmas, but still gets the message.
“Great is Thy Faithfulness.” v. 2 “Summer and winter, spring time and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness....”Join right in there with me.
“Fairest Lord Jesus,” V. 1 “Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature.” Pretty self explanatory.
“He’s Everything To Me,” “In the stars His handiwork I see, on the wind He speaks with majesty, Tho He ruleth over land and sea....” This is one of the “new” songs that came out in the 60's. And there is a lot of theology mixed with this catchy tune.
“How Great Thou Art,” V. 1 “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds “Thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed.” That calls for a “How great Thou Art!” Glory.
Dr. Dunn, our Pastor in Peoria loved this song. I do too.
“I Sing the Mighty Power of God,” whole song. Isaac Watts did himself proud with this. Sing it.
I sing the mighty pow’r of God, that made the mountains rise, That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day; The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord, who filled the earth with food, Who formed the creatures through the Word, and then pronounced them good. Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye, If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky. There’s not a plant or flow’r below, but makes Thy glories known, And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne; While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care; And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God, art present there. Source: The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/s/i/isingthe.htm)
You gotta hear and sing with this one.
Just log onto this link and let the songs proceed one after another. Bet you can’t keep your hands down! ww.bing.com/videos/search?q=i+sing+the+mighty+power+of+god+lyrics&&view=detail&mid=981B99A427E60E51AE09981B99A427E60E51AE09&rvsmid=38ADEAC33A3766EB670C38ADEAC33A3766EB670C&FORM=VDQVAP
Psalm 136 (Baptist Hymnal 63) Abridged. Read the whole Psalm.
Give thanks to the Lord, Give thanks to the God of gods, Give thanks to the Lord of lords, To Him who made the heavens with skill, To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, To Him who made the great lights, The sun to rule [c]by day, The moon and stars to rule by night.
This is another one that is new to me. But when it comes out of the Scripture, how can it be bad? It cannot.
“This Is My Father’s World,” v. 1 “...of rocks and trees and skies and seas, His hand the wonders wrought.” No need for additional comment.
“Thou Art Worthy,” (Baptist Hymnal 73) “For Thou has created, hast all things created; thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are created, For Thou are worthy, O Lord.” Revelation 4:11
Accompaniment with lyrics. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=thou+art+worthy+lyrics&view=detail&mid=9FE525344E9F72D613A49FE525344E9F72D613A4&FORM=VIRE
Choir and words. Glory.
What a great way to finish our devotion. He is worthy. And just for a final send off, go to the Messiah and get the arrangement there for this verse. You can wear new shoes for a week after hearing that, and take them back as new, as they will not have touched pavement. Glory.
Well, that is just an introduction to the importance of Creation in our faith and in our celebrations of God’s works. Just in case you wondered, the creation, either explicitly or implicitly stated occurs over 100 times in the Bible. Not only would Christmas be diminished without the creation, so would the Bible. God seems to have built His story on the foundation of creation. If you have more examples of creation in songs, please, by all means, contribute them to the conversation in the comments. I will append them to the blog.
Thank you and worship Him.
Epilogue: We will not look at this right now, but as you sing songs, watch for the Trinity. If that is outside one’s understanding or belief, an overwhelming amount of music is “off limits.” Just a thought.
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