My Favorite Christmas Carols
I’ve been listening to Christmas carols and hymns since Friday. I didn’t have time to write my usual post today, partly because my computer was being used for homework purposes (which does take priority around here). But I wanted to share the lyrics of my two favorite Christmas carols.
The first is O Holy Night. I love this song because it focuses on the true meaning of Christmas. I’ve bolded my favorite line:
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 soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
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!
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
My second favorite Christmas hymn is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. I love this song because it includes the name Emmanuel, which means God with us. This is my favorite name for Jesus. These are the four verses we sang in church last Sunday, but there are several others:
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come O Rod of Jesse’s stem,
From ev’ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow’r to save;
Bring them in vict’ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by your drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!
I would love to hear in comments what your favorite Christmas carol or hymn is, and why you like it. Merry Christmas!
Share this:
Hi Linda,
You’ve posted two of my favourites, thank you!
It came upon a midnight clear also ranks high on my list!
Blessings
ann
P.S. – Not near a computer so I’m having a bit of a back log. Shall catch up soon!
Those are very beautiful songs. I love Christmas songs. I like some because of the beautiful words while others have melodies that make me want to hear them and sing them again and again. It is so hard to pick a favorite.
I know you are a big Johnny Cash fan and you like country music. There is a song that was done by the Judds on their “Christmas Time With the Judds” album that was released in 1999.It has this haunting melody and beautiful harmony I just love! I have sung it before with my husband and also once in a ladies quartet. You can hear it on rhapsody if you don’t have it in your collection. 🙂 Here are the lyrics below:
Who is This Babe
Who is this baby
Where did he come from
He’s the son of a carpenter
The chosen one
He’s the hope of the angels
A gift of his love
Just a child in a manger
Gods only son
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Shepards were watching
Out under the sky
When the star over Bethlehem
Lit up the night
He’s the light in the darkness
A gift from above
He is held with the spirit
Of Gods holy love
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Angels sing
Worship our king
Theresa, I love those lyrics! Thank you for sharing. I will definitely look that one up, maybe see if I can download it from Amazon or iTunes for my iPod. Peace and Merry Christmas, Linda
Ohhhhhhh. Snowflakes – how cute!!!!
And I’m with you – an old classic – Oh come oh come Emmanuel – love that.
Craig, I forgot from last year about the snowflakes. I was surprised to see them this morning; just glad they are only on the computer! I have O Come O Come Emmanuel stuck in my head today, which is a good thing. 🙂 Peace, Linda
Let it be known that I sing the song
O Holy Night first
before I made this comment.
You actually made me sing Linda
— with feelings!
That is one of my favorites too
as well as Little Drummer Boy.
… Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?
…I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.
And the tears of the little drummer in me fell
because He smiled at me!
Thanks Linda! 🙂
Rea, I love that one, too! I remember long ago in the 6th grade I played it on the xylophone in the school Christmas program. 🙂 Thanks for singing. I bet that sounded wonderful. Peace and Merry Christmas, Linda
Oh Linda, I love these too! 🙂 I like everything! One that they play on the radio is “Mary Did You Know” and that one blesses me also. 🙂 This is a wonderful post, that glorifies Him and helped homework get done too! 🙂 Oh . . .for some reason, Silent Night, often makes me cry! I’m weird that way though . . .well, in lots of ways actually! ha! God bless you and your joy in Him!
Deb, I love “Mary Did You Know,” too! And we always sing “Silent Night” at the Christmas Eve candlelight service. It’s awesome! I don’t think it is weird that a Christmas carol would make you cry. “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” makes me cry every time I hear it. I even wrote a post about it last year. :). Peace and Merry Christmas, Linda