“Christ is the Lord! O praise his name forever!”

What’s your favorite Christmas Carol? 

There are so many great songs we sing or listen to at this time of the year.  Though it can sometimes be surprising to sing a hymn the whole way through, especially when we get to the later verses.  Perhaps the most famous example (well, that I can think of this week anyway) is “O Holy Night.” 

Verse one begins on a rather sweet and sentimental note, “O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.”

Though by the time we get to verse three?  It’s downright revolutionary!
“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.” 

Wow!  Breaking chains?  Slaves proclaimed as kin?  Oppression ceasing?

The history of the hymn is complicated.  Some claim “O Holy Night” was composed in France in the 1840s with the poem by Placide Cappeau set to music by Adolphe Adam.  Eventually an American writer named John Sullivan Dwight discovered the hymn “Cantique de Noel” in 1855.  If you look up “O Holy Night” in Worship & Rejoice (it’s #187), you will see that the English words are attributed to John S. Dwight (1813-1893).  Dwight revised the third verse to be explicitly anti-slavery, and it became a big hit in the North during the Civil War.*  Imagine singing “Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease” in the Civil War era.  

Sometimes music is so moving and we know certain songs so well, the meaning of the lyrics might be an afterthought.  “O Holy Night” is one of those sacred songs that is fun to sing at the top of your lungs in the car.  Try it and tell me you don’t feel less stressed afterwards, you’re welcome!  Whenever we hear or sing these Advent and Christmas hymns, my invitation is to pay attention to the lyrics too.  You might just be amazed by what was written and set to beautiful music. 

A thrill of hope indeed.

Love,
Pastor Lauren

*Crystal Caviness, “The intriguing history of ‘O Holy Night’, December 7, 2022, The United Methodist Church, https://www.umc.org/en/content/the-intriguing-history-of-o-holy-night

Photo by Alena Lavrova on Unsplash

Thursday Thoughts 12/12/24