A few days ago I was under the impression my wife was doing a single song at the Christmas Eve service coming up on Friday. Then a few days ago, she informed me we were responsible for the whole service.
Going through some files today, we discovered that a short medley I proposed was something we’d done for Christmas in 2005. It was built around the worship chorus which perhaps was slightly more popular then than now, but still recognizable…
You came from heaven to earth to show the way
From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord I lift Your name on high.
The “Why” of Jesus birth is that Jesus was born to die. There is no particular cause to celebrate a Christmas unless there is an Easter.
Another song in the medley is the first verse of an old hymn,
One day when Heaven was filled with His glory
One day when sin was as dark as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my redeemer is HeLiving He loved me
Dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified
Freely forever.
One day He’s coming, oh glorious day.
The medley ends with the third verse of And Can It Be…
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace
Emptied Himself of all but love
And bled for Adam’s helpless race.‘Tis mercy all, immense and free
For, O my God, it found out me.
Amazing love!
How can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me.
This blog post is the reverse of this one a few days ago, which talked about Joy to the World actually being 25% about Christmas and 75% about Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. There are many verses in other hymns that we don’t think of at Christmas which begin with the birth of Christ, but move us quickly into the “why” of Jesus’ birth.
This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–and I was the worst of them all.
I Tim 1:15 (NLT)
Christianity 201 