Carol Your Way to Worship

11155059216_f0dc9d47a0_zHave you ever caroled your way to worship? One thing I hope for you this holiday season is many sweet moments of personal worship, and one of the best ways I know to enter into such meaningful times with the Lord is through singing the carols of Christmas.

As the season gets started, I urge you to find a hymnal or songbook of old-time Christmas carols and choose one to sing each day in your quiet moments with God. You probably know many of these long-time favorites by heart, but I want to encourage you to find the words written out somewhere so you can sing all the verses. I promise you will find treasure you have forgotten about or never knew was there.

Last year while singing “O Holy Night!” during one of my personal worship times, the Lord ministered such encouragement to me through the last half of the second verse—the verse that is usually left out when we sing it in groups or hear it performed. How grateful I am I didn’t leave it out as I sang privately to Him last Christmas season.

Join me today, won’t you, and carol your way to worship this holiday season. Here is “O Holy Night!” to get you started (text by John S. Dwight; melody by Adolphe Adam). May the King of kings minister to your heart as you sing to Him!

“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,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Fall on your knees, Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand;
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our Friend;
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger.
Behold your King, before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace;
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name;
Christ is the Lord, Oh, praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim.”

“Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness . . .” Psalm 96:9a

*Flickr photo by infomastern, Creative Commons License

*Don’t forget to enter The Spirit of Christmas Giveaway (below this post). Deadline to enter is noon Dec. 7. Good luck!

Comments

  1. What a wonderful idea. I am reading a chapter of Proverbs a day through Advent and will begin caroling my way to worship as well. Thank you for sharing sweet Sister in Christ!

  2. Thanks for sharing that. It was neat to read it as a poem on the page instead of singing the words and not really thinking about them. I especially liked the 2nd verse, be reminded again that He is our friend through our trials and he knows our weakness.

  3. You’re welcome, gals — more than happy to share this idea and particular song.

    Kristin, the last four lines of the second verse were the ones that ministered to me so much last year, too. So happy they meant alot to you as well!

  4. I love to read the “extra” verses of Christmas music that we never hear. So much good stuff.

  5. I love that song. . . last weekend I was the music provider for the 2 day art show so I brought all my Mannheim Steamroller Christmas music. It occurred to me as we listened through their rotation several times that they’ve never recorded O Holy Night!

  6. There truly is a worshipful side to the season. I love those songs that take my heart to a place much deeper than tinsel & glitter. Believe it or not, sometimes those same songs touch me in March, or July in exactly the same way. Our hearts were made for caroling!

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