One of the Best Christmas Videos

Breath of Heaven  and The Nativity

Mary Did You Know

Michael English

Songs for Christmas 2010

Some Good Recommendations

Worship Matters is recommending some music for Christmas.  Check it out.  I’m always on the look out for new Christmas or meditative music.   I’m especially excited about New Irish Hymns #3 and one I’m not familiar with, but a “favorite” of Bob’s, Stuart Townend’s From the Squalor of a Borrowed Stable.

Here’s the post.  Go and read.

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Hymns of Advent – A Singular Beauty

This  traditional Advent Hymn is one of the most beautiful pieces of choral music ever written. Both the words and the singular beauty of the musical composition faithfully transport me each year to that wonderful, holy place I enjoy so much each Christmas season.  My Christmas music library is growing, and I’m so appreciative of the age where, in spite of the decline in the public square of the powerful, Christ-based Christmas hymns, we have increasing access to the world’s traditional Christmas music performed by the world’s great choirs. This kind of music is one reason Christmas is my favorite time of year. The German words are a paraphrase of Isaiah 11:1 - "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots."   The anonymous author and original work was German but the most familiar English renditions come from a strikingly beautiful and inspired translation by Theodore Baker. The verse has undergone quite a history with several additions incorporated into the original.  For instance, the following translation is mostly Baker’s, with an additional stanza – the third in the version below - added.  (Baker’s original third becomes the fourth in this version). 

The music composer, Michael Praetorius, was the German son of a Lutheran minister who had been a pupil of Luther. “Praetorius” is Anglicized from the original “Schultheiss” (which also means the head of a local municipality).  He appears to have been largely self-taught ^[1] in later life, as his studies in theology would have taken the majority of his time at the University of Frankfurt.  That didn’t hinder him from becoming “the cardinal figure in the development of Protestant sacred music in Germany in the seventeenth century”.^[2] 

I have several versions of this hauntingly beautiful hymn in my Christmas library. My favorite is performed by the Amor Artis Chamber Choir.   Their site is here.  Drop by and pick up Christmas with Amor Artis.  Another beautiful rendition is from the Umea Academic Choir.  If you’ve never known or were never quite able to hear the words to this hymn, by all means listen as you read:

1. Lo, how a rose e'er blooming,
From tender stem hath sprung!
From Jesse’s lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.

It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter
When half spent was the night

2. Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind
With Mary we behold it,
The Virgin mother kind

To shew God's love aright,
She bore to men a Savior
When half spent was the night

3. The shepherds heard the story
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of Glory
Was born on earth this night.

To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger they found him,
As angels heralds said.

4. This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere ^[3];

True man, yet very God,
From Sin and death he saves us,
And lightens every load.

There are several performances on YouTube as well:  This one is particularly good, and there’s a fascinating depiction of John Harvard singing the hymn to a student – a clip from the Michael Van Devere film of the Puritan reverend who would become Harvard’s namesake.

References

1.  George J. Buelow, A History of Baroque Music, Indiana University Press (2004)
2.  ibid
3.  "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”.  Isa 9:2, Matt 4:16

Kutless “What Faith Can Do”

Broken hearts become brand new

Everybody falls sometimes
You gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think its more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know

And don't you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

 

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
Ive seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

It doesn't matter what you've heard
Impossible is not a word
Its just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody's scared to death
You may decide to take that step
Out on the water
But it'll be all right

Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

Overcome the odds
When you don't have a chance
That's what faith can do
When the world says you cant
It will tell you that it can

Great band.  Read more on Kutless, and visit their site on iTunes and Amazon to download their albums.

My Place is With You

The One Dream I’ve Searched For

I've walked along a hundred highways,
Some I wish I could forget.
And I've burned a lot of bridges,
There's not one that I regret.
Cause every path I've taken,
They all have led me to knowing my place,
My place is with You.

Had my promises forsaken
In so many empty words.
I'm amazed and so astounded
That I won't get what I deserve.
Whatever lies I've lived for,
I have finally found the truth.
I know my place, my place is with You.

You are my treasure forever,
The one dream I've searched for.

I've not been given my tomorrow,
I'm only certain of today.
If I don't see another sunrise,
I will not have to be afraid.
I know we will be together,
when all my days are through.
I know my place, my place is with You.

My place is with You
My place is with You

When I Call on Jesus

He'll Move Heaven and Earth to Come Rescue Me

Save Me From Myself

Flowerdust on Michael W. Smith's new album 

Anne Jackson is new to the blogroll.  (Funny thing to say - I just started the thing.)  I'm having a tough time remembering how I found her.  Awww, I guess that doesn't matter so much as that I like what she's doing.  Here's a great post that represents the kind of writing you'll find at flowerdust.  Be sure to read it all   

The first verse nails me…

“Lost…”
“My heart is hard as stone…”
“On my own, alone, I carry it home…”
“Gone…”
“Distraught…”

Dang, dude. This isn’t your typical happy all about Jesus song.
I don’t want to spoil the rest of the song for you (so, listen!), but he takes us from this place of being alone and hard and cold to the truth that there is only one thing that saves us.

 Read the entire thing... 

Heavenly Music - Heavenly Slumber

The Dreams of Novalis

I'm listening to Cynthia Jordan's The Celtic Garden -- "Childgrove" to be precise -- while I'm reading George MacDonald's poetry and other writings.  The piece below is from his translation of the German romantic Novalis; it's about his dear, lost Sophie.  And for all those who have lost a loved one.

You can listen to Cynthia as well on her radio station - ahhhh music.  It's wonderful music to relax by, or read by, think by or dream by.  Better yet, have a listen while you read some really good writing:

Once when I was shedding bitter tears, when, dissolved in pain, my hope was melting away, and I stood alone by the barren mound which in its narrow dark bosom hid the vanished form of my Life, lonely as never yet was lonely man, driven by anxiety unspeakable, powerless, and no longer anything but a conscious misery;--as there I looked about me for help, unable to go on or to turn back, and clung to the fleeting, extinguished life with an endless longing: then, out of the blue distances -- from the hills of my ancient bliss, came a shiver of twilight -- and at once snapt the bond of birth, the chains of the Light. Away fled the glory of the world, and with it my mourning; the sadness flowed together into a new, unfathomable world.

Thou, soul of the Night, heavenly Slumber, didst come upon me; the region gently upheaved itself; over it hovered my unbound, newborn spirit. The mound became a cloud of dust, and through the cloud I saw the glorified face of my beloved. In her eyes eternity reposed. I laid hold of her hands, and the tears became a sparkling bond that could not be broken. Into the distance swept by, like a tempest, thousands of years. On her neck I welcomed the new life with ecstatic tears.

Never was was such another dream; then first and ever since I hold fast an eternal, unchangeable faith in the heaven of the Night, and its Light, the Beloved.

If You Like Worship, You're Gonna Love This

Up and Coming - Sons and Daughters

Justin has a tip for the next worship album you should buy.  Sure looks promising.  I love this kind of music; I play it myself.  Well, without that nice harmony...and the piano...

Fueled by a shared passion for worship and the local church, Sons & Daughters began writing songs in the fall of 2009 for their church in Franklin, Tennessee. They both serve on staff at Journey and are working toward releasing an EP in May 2011.  

Download the free songs.  You're gonna love it.