Good Christmas song list

[whirlingmerc]

Which are the best Christmas songs?
My short list would would include:

- Thou didst leave Thy throne
- Thou who wast rich beyond all measure
- I heard the bells on Christmas day
- Good Christian men rejoice
- Come ye lofty

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I am sure this depends on the definition of good; the songs as much as anything contribute to the sentimentality which makes this observance so difficult to reform out of the church. I thought Pastor Glaser had a good blog post; I've recognized for years it is not principles but sentimentality and nostalgia which outweigh all in giving this thing life and staying power (and do doubt modern consumerism and advertising). https://benjaminpglaser.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/the-powerful-narcotic-of-nostalgia/

 

[whirlingmerc]

And I agree that music should not be merely for nostalgia

 

[Jake]

If you mean a good song about the incarnation of the Son of God, perhaps Psalm 2 could be a contender? I don't celebrate mass, but I do celebrate Christ.

1 Why rage the heathen? and vain things
why do the people mind?
2 Kings of the earth do set themselves,
and princes are combined,

To plot against the Lord, and his
Anointed, saying thus,
3 Let us asunder break their bands,
and cast their cords from us.

4 He that in heaven sits shall laugh;
the Lord shall scorn them all.
5 Then shall he speak to them in wrath,
in rage he vex them shall.

6 Yet, notwithstanding, I have him
to be my King appointed;
And over Zion, my holy hill,
I have him King anointed.

7 The sure decree I will declare:
The Lord hath said to me,
Thou art mine only Son; this day
I have begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and for heritage
the heathen I'll make thine;
And, for possession, I to thee
will give earth's utmost line.

9 Thou shalt, as with a weighty rod
of iron, break them all;
And, as a potter's sherd, thou shalt
them dash in pieces small.

10 Now therefore, kings, be wise; be taught,
ye judges of the earth:
11 Serve God in fear, and see that ye
join trembling with your mirth.

12 Kiss ye the Son, lest in his ire
ye perish from the way,
If once his wrath begin to burn:
blessed all that on him stay.

 

[JimmyH]

I don't celebrate Christmas, or approve of what it is to most of society, but I love singing the hymns of Issac Watts, John Wesley, Martin Luther &c. Perhaps it is sentimentality, but singing the hymns is one of the things I look forward to every Sunday. I find myself singing Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Joy To The World, A Mighty Fortress, while driving in my car, cooking or washing dishes.

 

[Elizabeth]

I love this one. Listening to my husband sing it at Lessons and Carols(which we had the joy of attending last night) is a yearly delight:


"Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

Every island, sea, and mountain,
Heav’n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, confounded,
Hear the trump proclaim the day:
Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come to judgment!
Come to judgment! Come away!

Now redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear;
All His saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
See the day of God appear!

Answer Thine own bride and Spirit,
Hasten, Lord, the general doom!
The new Heav’n and earth t’inherit,
Take Thy pining exiles home:
All creation, all creation, all creation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!

The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
O come quickly! O come quickly! O come quickly!
Everlasting God, come down!"

 

[Jack K]

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. It's stuffed with biblical language and expresses great joy in the gospel of Christ.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

I particularly like the edited version we made-up in high-school: Grandma got run over by a reindeer, walking back from Mass on Christ-mass eve! Now you can say there's no such thing as popery, but as for me and grandpa we believe!

 

[Logan]

Were you and your high-school friends particularly nerdy?

 

[whirlingmerc]

I think some amount of sentimentality is fine... it just shouldn't be all nostalgia or sentimentality...

I passed on the movie version of 'grandma got run over by a reindeer'

 

[Bill The Baptist]

Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

I particularly like the edited version we made-up in high-school: Grandma got run over by a reindeer, walking back from Mass on Christ-mass eve! Now you can say there's no such thing as popery, but as for me and grandpa we believe!

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Were you and your high-school friends particularly nerdy?

Yes; not much has changed in that regard. I was also one of those hard-core Prods, who had Union Jacks and Ulster flags on his school folders; not much has changed in that regard either

 

[Philip]

Of the Father's Love Begotten
Veni Veni Immanuel
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Really any of Handel's settings of prophetic text in The Messiah
Coventry Carol
Sussex Carol
O Magnum Mysterium

 

[Warren]

So outside the psalms? Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent. It was an ancient Eucharistic chant, a pre-Mass hymn.

 

[ProtestantBankie]

Were you and your high-school friends particularly nerdy?

Yes; not much has changed in that regard. I was also one of those hard-core Prods, who had Union Jacks and Ulster flags on this school folders; not much has changed in that regard either

I thought they stopped letting you guys into Queen's.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Were you and your high-school friends particularly nerdy?

Yes; not much has changed in that regard. I was also one of those hard-core Prods, who had Union Jacks and Ulster flags on this school folders; not much has changed in that regard either

I thought they stopped letting you guys into Queen's.