Long lay the world in sin . . .
Till He appeared . . .
A thrill of hope!
And in His Name all oppression shall cease . . .
Christ is the Lord!
Have you ever stopped to contemplate the song O Holy Night? Its one of those carols I usually sing automatically, my lips forming the verses on cue. The other night I printed out the words and realized I never knew what it said. Not really. As I read the lyrics, I was deeply moved. Here are the first and third stanzas (read each word deliberately; its easy to gloss over them because of the tune’s familiarity):
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 world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
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 He shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
And in his name . . . in his name. “For there is no other name under heaven given among humankind by which we must be delivered . . . that by believing you may have life in his name . . . For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be rescued . . . God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth . . .” (Acts 4:12; John 20:31; Roman 10:13; Philippians 2:9-11).
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
Can you picture that new and glorious morn on the horizon, breaking forth with light that tugs with homesick longing? This song stirs my heart to worship God. You can listen to the song below. Josh Groban does an excellent rendition of it. Even better if you can find a clear recording on CD and just close your eyes and let the words sink in. (Note: If the song starts/stops it is because the server is downloading slowly. Click pause and wait for the download to complete, or view it later when the Youtube server isn’t bogged down).
Josh Groban – O Holy Night
