Carols & Candles (2023)

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

Welcome to our Annual Carols and Candles Service. The Christmas carol we just sang, “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee” reminds us of the Joy of the Christmas Season. And tonight, we want to celebrate that joy.

Advent is a word that means “coming.” At Christmas we celebrates the coming of our Savior! We have been celebrating His coming by lighting a candle each Sunday. So far we have lit four candles. There’s the candle of Hope, the candle of Love, the candle of Peace, and the candle the candle of Joy. Tonight, we are going to light our final candle—the large white candle in the middle that represents Jesus Christ. That first Christmas, the angels announced the birth of the Messiah, or Christ to the shepherds.

Luke 2:10–11 (NIV)

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

And so we light the final candle—the Christ Candle!

Would you join with me as we pray and ask God to bless our time together.

[PRAYER]

O Come All Ye Faithful

While we gather together tonight to celebrate the joy of Christmas, we are reminded that Christmas is not always a joyful time. Such was the case for one of America’s most famous poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After his wife died in a tragic fire, Longfellow wrote in his diary, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.” For him, the next Christmas was not much better as he recorded, “ ‘A Merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.”

A nation plagued by a civil war, and families suffering loss, Longfellow received the news of yet another tragedy. His son, Charles, was badly wounded. While nursing his son back to health, the bells announced, yet another painful Christmas. Filled with pain, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, once again picked up his pen and began to write, “I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiar carols play. . .” Join us as we sing:

I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day

Throughout history, mankind has been plagued by war and destruction. The next beautiful carol was an unlikely collaboration of three men. A French parish priest asked a local—non-church going—poet to write a Christmas hymn. The French poet wrote the beautiful lyrics and asked a Jewish friend to put the poem to music. When it was first preformed in 1847 it became an instant favorite.

During the French-Prussian War, as Christmas approached, a French soldier ran out of the trenches unarmed and began to sing his favorite Christmas Carol—O Holy Night. When he was finished, a German Soldier stood up and began to sing a German Christmas Carol. This unlikely event led to an unscheduled Christmas Eve ceasefire in 1870.

O Holy Night

Many of us have heard the story of the humble beginning of the beloved Christmas Carol, Silent Night. It was first preformed on Christmas Eve in 1818 in the small village of Obendorf, Austria.

As the story goes, when Father Mohr arrived at St. Nicholas Church on that Christmas Eve, he discovered that the organ’s billows had been damage by mice and could not be played for the upcoming Christmas Eve mass. Faced with this crisis, Father Mohr went to his dear friend and music teacher, Franz Gruber and gave him a small poem that he had written. Gruber picked up his guitar and began playing a simple tune, which has become one of the most beloved Christmas Carols of all time.

Silent Night

Originally written by Isaac Watts in 1719, to celebrate Jesus’ role as King of His church and ultimately of the world, the poem, Joy to the World, was never meant to be about Christmas. In fact, the song would not become popular for more than 100 years. That’s when Lowell Mason discovered the poem and set it to music. When it was released in 1836 it was released at Christmas time, the adaption of Watts’ poem into song quickly became a Christmas favorite. Tonight, we close our celebration of Joy with the wonderful words, “Joy to the world, the Lord has come. . .”

Joy to the World

As you leave tonight, Deann and I have a special gift for each family here. Please pick up a Christmas ornament reminding us of the Joy of Christmas, and kids, don’t forget to pick up your Candy Cane.