Sounds of the Season - Joy to the World

Sounds of the Season

Welcome! It’s December the 22nd, and we’re continuing with our very first Redeemer Digital Advent Calendar! This year, in the lead up to Christmas, we’ll be producing daily content which we hope blesses you, encourages you, and reminds you of the hope that we can celebrate this Christmas!

We’re continuing today with the last of our 4 Advent blogs which have been released every Tuesday until Christmas to make up a series called ‘Sounds of the Season’. Each week we’ve been taking the opportunity to appreciate the deeper meaning behind Christmas music, with a focus on a specific Christmas carol that helps to shed light on the true meaning of this Christmas season.

Today, we look at my personal favourite carol - Joy tothe World! You can hear a version below.

Creation is groaning.

In Romans 8:19-22, creation is described as ‘waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the songs of God’ and that it has been ‘groaning with the pains of childbirth until now’. This year has been a year of difficulty for all of us, but it is not us alone that groans, but creation itself has been groaning, ever since the fall.

It’s not difficult to see the effects that the actions of humans have had on creation, and to recognise the reason that it groans, however as we sing Joy to the World this Christmas, there is an opportunity to remind ourselves that there is hope! Both for creation, and for us!

Heaven and Nature Sing!

Though we recognise that the world in which we live is broken, in many ways beyond repair, we also know as Christians that God promises this won’t always be the case! We sing about it in Joy to the World…

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found, 
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found. 

This verse is inspired by Revelation 22:1-5, where we read of the glorious future promised to those who follow Jesus! A place where there is no curse, no darkness, no pain!

In his book The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis gives us a glimpse of what it might feel like to arrive there.

It was the unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried: ‘I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up! Come further in! 
(C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle [New York: HarperTrophy,1984], 213.)

This is the feeling that we sing about when we sing this carol at Christmas!

Joy to the World

I think that’s the reason that this is my favourite carol, because its title describes the effect of Jesus’ birth. He came to bring Joy to the World! The reason that we can look forward to an eternal future where heaven and nature will sing, is not because we’ve found the solution ourselves, but instead because Jesus came! He came to live and die for us, to pay the price for our failings, and bring an end to the groaning of creation forever!

We are in a season of great pain, turmoil and difficulty this Christmas, but it is into the midst of all of those temporary feelings that Jesus comes, and he comes to bring unshakeable, everlasting joy. Joy to the World!

Merry Christmas!

Sounds of the Season - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Welcome! It’s December the 15th, and we’re continuing with our very first Redeemer Digital Advent Calendar! This year, in the lead up to Christmas, we’ll be producing daily content which we hope blesses you, encourages you, and reminds you of the hope that we can celebrate this Christmas!

We’re continuing today with the third of 4 Advent blogs which will be released every Tuesday until Christmas and will make up a series called ‘Sounds of the Season’. Each week we will be taking the opportunity to appreciate the deeper meaning behind Christmas music, with a focus on a specific Christmas carol that helps to shed light on the true meaning of this Christmas season.

Today, we look at another great carol - O Come, O Come Emmanuel! You can hear a version below.

One of the reasons I look forward to carol services each Christmas is that without fail, every year I sing a verse of a carol which I have never heard or sung along to before! O Come O Come Emmanuel seems to be one of those carols which often fulfils that role, it has many verses, which sadly (but often necessarily) need to be trimmed from the performance for the sake of time!

Two verses which are fantastic theologically, but you may not have sung recently, are the focus of today’s blog, and I’ve posted them below.

O come, O come, Emmanuel 
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 
Shall come to thee, O Israel. 

We are all seeking freedom and joy

In a 2017 post on Christianity Today, Ed Stetzer talks of how advent is a representation of our longing for freedom from our separation from God. 

“In this time of waiting, patience is key. We wait, but do so with great expectation, trusting that God will fulfill all of his many promises to us. As believers, we never fear, we do not lose hope, nor do we give into discouragement, because we know how the story ends: Jesus—the long awaited Messiah—is on the move.” 

The whole world longs for the same thing, we are all searching for freedom, joy, prosperity and unity. In the commercialisation of the Christmas season we see an example of how we can so easily seek this satisfaction in temporary things. As advent is a season of anticipation of the coming of Christ for Christians, so for others it is a season of anticipation of the coming of loads of new stuff! Stuff which it is hoped will bring healing, belonging, and value.

The one who brings true freedom and joy

In Isaiah 11:2-5 we read the verses which are the inspiration for part of today’s carol. It describes the Messiah, the one we now know to be called Jesus. He is one on whom the Spirit of the Lord rests, he is one who cares about justice for the poor and those in need, he is the defender of those who are the victims of oppression and wickedness.

This is the one everyone is waiting and searching for, the one who brings true freedom and joy. He fulfils all the longings and desires in us, desires that are too deep to be fulfilled by presents, traditions, or even friends and family members this Christmas.

A question to ask yourself today

Who do you know that needs to learn that Jesus can meet their needs this Christmas? I would encourage you to invite that person to our online carol service - 7:30pm on the Redeemer Church London Youtube Channel - where they will get a chance to meet the one who will fulfil their deepest needs this Christmas.

It may be that you are stirred by the words of Isaiah 11 today, to reach out to the most vulnerable in our society, those who Jesus himself would have sought out. We are running an initiative this year called Love Christmas, where we are aiming to bless others in our borough, and you can get involved by emailing us at hello@redeemerlondon.org

Sounds of the Season - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Welcome! It’s December the 8th, and we’re continuing with our very first Redeemer Digital Advent Calendar! This year, in the lead up to Christmas, we’ll be producing daily content which we hope blesses you, encourages you, and reminds you of the hope that we can celebrate this Christmas!

We’re continuing today with the second of 4 Advent blogs which will be released every Tuesday until Christmas and will make up a series called ‘Sounds of the Season’. Each week we will be taking the opportunity to appreciate the deeper meaning behind Christmas music, with a focus on a specific Christmas carol that helps to shed light on the true meaning of this Christmas season.

Today, we look at another classic carol - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen! You can hear a version below.

Sheep have amazing hearing. In fact, one of the first ways a lamb associates itself with its mother is by learning her voice. Though they have poor depth perception when it comes to sight, they can recognise their shepherd’s call from far off. We are the sheep of God’s pasture, and we are called to hear his voice and to follow his lead, including proclaiming the good news of Jesus to the people he sends us to.

Unto certain Shepherds….

This is exactly what the angels did in Luke 2:8-20, a passage of scripture described in the second verse of today’s carol - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds 
Brought tidings of the same: How that in Bethlehem was born The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy 

The angels came and declared the incredible news of Jesus’ birth, not to the emperor Caesar, or even to King Herod, but instead to lowly shepherds.

Shepherds appear in the bible in many places, and their status changes throughout biblical history, from being an “abomination to the Egyptians” in Genesis 46:34, to a shepherd being anointed king with the selection of David by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:11). Krish Kandiah’s 2017 article “God Turns Up in All the Wrong Places at Christmas” describes shepherds as “considered untrustworthy and regarded as unclean…homeless strangers”. We however are called, as the angels were, to share the good news of Jesus with whoever God calls us to.

The Lost Sheep

The angels visit to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth is not the only appearance of shepherds in the book of Luke. In Luke 15:1-7, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep, reminding those listening (as well as those reading his words 2000 years later), that in God’s role as our shepherd, her seeks us out when we have gone astray.

Shepherds are not just used by God as an example of those to whom the message of Christmas must be told, but also as those through which the reason for Christmas is revealed. God couldn’t let us go astray, but he sent Jesus that we might be found and brought back to him.

So what role will shepherds play in your story of Christmas this year? 

Perhaps you are challenged to reach out to those who the rest of society might be ignoring this Christmas, and reveal to them something of the true message of this time of year.

Or, perhaps you feel like the lost sheep, and you realise this Christmas might be an opportunity to come home.

However you feel right now, know that the Good Shepherd is calling you. Listen out for his voice.