Christmas Carol Treasures

I love the music of Christmas. You may remember last Christmas season I wrote about caroling our way to worship. I think it’s something we can do every year and enjoy it afresh each and every time.

The messages in the carols hold such blessing for us, especially when we take the time to sing all the verses. Some of the best Christmas carol treasures are hidden in verses we don’t usually sing.

I came upon one such treasure last year in the fourth verse of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”. The phrase “O rest beside the weary road  And hear the angels sing” offered me such comfort and also stirred a desire to stop and listen and allow the music of heaven to refresh my soul. Christmas carol treasure indeed!

If you haven’t taken time yet to worship through Christmas carols this season, snatch an opportunity now. Join me in singing the carol below and then find a carol book or hymnal and be blessed by more Christmas carol treasures in the days to come. Enjoy!

It Came upon the Midnight Clear

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

—written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in 1849

*What treasure did you find in this carol today?

Comments

  1. I love Christmas carols, also. O Holy Night is one of my favorites.

  2. I’ve never really looked at the words of the 3rd verse, either. And my goodness, they encouraged me tonight!

  3. Vonda, so glad you found encouragement in this carol, and Janice, O Holy Night is one of my favorites, too!

  4. Oh I also love Christmas Carols! A lot of these carols can really touch your heart if you listen to the words!

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