Rejoice

Hey everyone! With Christmas in just a few days, I thought I would do a blog involving Christmas! I love all Christmas music, but I really love Christmas carols. Especially the old ones. Their lyrics are so intricate and meaningful. I was riding in the car with my dad last week and we were talking about what I should blog about. We started talking about Christmas carols/hymns and two specific ones that are my favorites came to mind: O Come, O Come Emmanuel and O Holy Night. O Come, O Come Emmanuel was written in 1861. O Holy Night was written in 1847. Both songs are pretty similar in what they are saying. There is a gloominess in the beginning and then there is rejoicing at the end. Here are the first few lines of both songs. See if you can point out the similarities:


O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here


O holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining


I think it is neat how the words to both songs are so alike. Both are talking about how desolate and meaningless the world is without Jesus and how we have no hope in our sin. Then Jesus comes and we see more similarities:


O Come, O Come Emmanuel says:
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.


O Holy Night says:
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!


When Jesus appeared everything changed. There was no hope until Jesus came and there is no hope in the human heart without Jesus. We can rejoice and be glad during Christmas and remember that because of Jesus there is hope. Music has a way of touching the heart like nothing else. You might have noticed that both of the songs say "rejoice" at the end and that is what Christmas is all about. We can rejoice that Jesus came to save us and give us life. I hope that you and your families have a wonderful Christmas rejoicing in Jesus' coming and knowing the He will come again! :)


Kandace