{"id":32361,"date":"2022-09-10T16:06:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/evangelical-leaders-reflect-on-their-most-cherished-christmas-carols\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:06:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:06:35","slug":"evangelical-leaders-reflect-on-their-most-cherished-christmas-carols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/evangelical-leaders-reflect-on-their-most-cherished-christmas-carols\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Leaders Reflect on Their Most Cherished Christmas Carols"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash<\/div>\n

Facts & Trends<\/em> asked a few influential leaders in the Church about their favorite songs to sing or listen to at Christmas\u2014and how these songs speak to them so deeply.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what they said.<\/p>\n

Derwin Gray: lead pastor of Transformation Church (Indian Land, South Carolina); author of <\/strong>Limitless Life: You Are More Than Your Past When God Holds Your Future<\/em><\/strong>; former NFL player<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSilent Night\u201d is my favorite Christmas carol. My favorite part of the song is,<\/p>\n

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing, alleluia
Christ the savior is born,
Christ the savior is born.<\/em><\/p>\n

I love these words because they display God\u2019s glory coming to the world. Finally, the long-awaited Savior is born.<\/p>\n

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Karen Swallow Prior: Liberty University English professor and author of <\/strong>On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>as well as several other books.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My favorite Christmas carol is Isaac Watts\u2019 \u201cJoy to the World\u201d because it is so theologically and poetically rich. My favorite stanza\u2014for both of these reasons\u2014is the last:<\/p>\n

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.<\/em><\/p>\n

Where else can you find such pure doctrine so beautifully and compellingly expressed?<\/p>\n

Russell Moore: president of the Southern Baptist Convention\u2019s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and author of <\/strong>The Storm-Tossed Famil<\/em><\/strong>y: How the Cross Reshapes the Home<\/em><\/strong>, <\/strong>Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel<\/em><\/strong>, and <\/strong>The Gospel for Life<\/em><\/strong> series<\/strong><\/p>\n

My favorite Christmas carol is a harder question than I might have thought it would have been. So many of my favorite Christmas songs resonate so deeply with the central themes of my life and ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoy to the World\u201d sums up the kingdom of Christ: \u201cHe comes to make his blessings known, far as the curse is found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Majestic.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen\u201d focuses away from the \u201cholly, jolly\u201d sentimentality of Christmas toward its biblical meaning: spiritual warfare. The incarnate One has to come \u201cto save us all from Satan\u2019s pow\u2019r when we were gone astray.\u201d<\/p>\n

The carol hits the right tone both with the lyrics and with the music\u2014somewhat dark, mysterious, but concluding with \u201ctidings of comfort and joy.\u201d That sounds, come to think of it, much like the Christian life itself.<\/p>\n

The only thing better than singing such magnificent words with such an exuberant tune is knowing they are true. \u2014 @drmoore Click To Tweet <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll even admit I\u2019m vulnerable to loving \u201cThe Little Drummer Boy,\u201d especially the moment when the song reaches that height of \u201cI played my best for him…\u201d I love the joy in that.<\/p>\n

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See also  Why Pastors Must Acknowledge Their Own Needs<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I also want to kneel down and tell that little boy, \u201cYou really don\u2019t need to perform for Him; you\u2019re loved and accepted, adopted for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, in the end, I would choose, \u201cHark the Herald Angels Sing,\u201d because it\u2019s hard to match the rightful exuberance of that song. It reminds me very much of \u201cHandel\u2019s Hallelujah Chorus\u201d and the hymn \u201cCrown Him With Many Crowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

All three give me, every time I sing them, a sense of nostalgia for the future, a little glimmer of what it might be to stand before the heavenly throne of the triumphant Christ. And, the carol pulsates with gospel: \u201cBorn to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only thing better than singing such magnificent words with such an exuberant tune is knowing they are true.<\/p>\n

Carol Pipes: editor-in-chief for Facts & Trend<\/em>s and director of communications for Lifeway Christian Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a special affinity for the carol \u201cGo, Tell it on the Mountain.\u201d At the church where I grew up, this song was always the last carol sung at the Christmas Eve candlelight service.<\/p>\n

Candles were lighted accompanied by the singing of \u201cSilent Night.\u201d But then we\u2019d raise our candles and voices singing, \u201cGo, tell it\u201d\u2014a great reminder that not only do we rejoice and celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord, but we are also called to tell others everywhere this Good News.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your<\/em> favorite\u2014and why? Tell us in the comments. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Classic Hymns: Read & reflect on the classics<\/h3>\n

B&H Editorial Staff<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Related posts:<\/h3>\n
Few Americans Confident They Could Tell Biblical Christmas Story What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times? What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation? 4 Ideas for Holiday Outreach During a Pandemic <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash Facts & Trends asked a few influential leaders in the Church about their favorite songs to sing or listen to at Christmas\u2014and how these songs speak to them so deeply. Here\u2019s what they said. Derwin Gray: lead pastor of Transformation Church (Indian Land, South Carolina); author of Limitless Life: You … Continue reading “Evangelical Leaders Reflect on Their Most Cherished Christmas Carols”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}