Saturday, December 7, 2013

25 Days of Christmas: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The Ozinga Outlook
I love Christmas music.  Old, new, it doesn't matter.  Growing up in kid choir at church meant we learned the stories behind the carols we sang.  I remember so many of these stories and have fact checked many of them over the years with the invention of the internet.  :)  Check back each day for a new carol and story!  I'll be including a video of one of my favorite versions of the carol as well.  Grab the button and share the fun with your friends!

December 7th: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Hark! The Harold Angels Sing was my favorite carol as a child.  My mom started an angel collection for me when I was very small, and all things angel made me quite joyous!  There are so many carols about angels, but the bright tune and upbeat tempo of this one really resonated with my little heart.

The Christmas of 1739 was the first Christmas for parishioners to enjoy this carol by Charles Wesley and George Whitfield.  The music is adapted from one of Mendelssohn's choruses.  Wesley and Whitfield had a bit of disagreement about the lyrics as Whitfield was quite the Calvinist and Wesley went on to found the Methodist church.  Oh well.  And, these angels are singing although none of the Gospels ever mentions that the angels actually sing.  Still, it's hard to imagine that they wouldn't have!

Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled:
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem:
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of a virgin's womb!
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel:
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings;
Mild, he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth:
Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn King.
Come, desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home;
Rise, the woman's conquering seed,
Bruise in us the serpent's head.
Now display thy saving power,
Ruin'd nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.
Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner man:
O, to all thyself impart,
Form'd in each believing heart.






Don't miss a day of carols!

December 1: Joy to the World
December 2: Good King Wenceslas
December 3: Away in A Manger
 

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