'When Heaven and Nature sang': A Christmas poem

We enjoyed a wonderful double Christmas carol service yesterday at Redeemer Church London, welcoming hundreds of you through the doors to celebrate the birth of Jesus together.

The services began with a new poem from church member STEVE PAGE who took one of the lines from ‘Joy to the World’, the events in Bethlehem and then a reflection of the Oasis band reunion. You can read his words in full below.

We hope to see you at one of our two Christmas family services this Sunday (December 21) at 9.30am and 11.30am at the University of West London.

Merry Christmas from everyone at Redeemer!

‘WHEN HEAVEN AND NATURE SANG’

The reunion had been planned for ages. They hadn’t sung together for… Well, it was difficult to remember the last time.

They had once been a successful duo, if not the most successful. So many hits.

The brothers had sung together from their earliest days. Always in harmony. Their songs would bring tears to your eyes.

They did their own compositions, which were A-MA-ZING, and they did covers, which is where you might have come across them – old angelic classics, like ‘Hosanna In The Highest!’. Or maybe you’ll remember their version of: ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty Reigns!’ Gives me chills just thinking about it.

Well, after their big falling out, things hadn’t been quite the same. You might still see them together occasionally but never singing. Those days seemed to have gone.

They had slowly drifted apart, and we weren’t 100% sure this reunion concert was going to go well. The younger brother was a little temperamental you see. I think he felt upstaged by his big brother. You might remember reports of his more rebellious days.

But when the King of Angels, the first born of Creation - when Jesus asked them to sing… When he said how much it would mean to him, how could they refuse?

And so, on the night the opening act was of course the Angels – not just one choir – but the biggest gathering of the citizens of Heaven since creation – all the choirs of Angels singing in exaltation, filling the sky.

And they were loud I tell you – “Glory to God in the highest! Peace on Earth!” Their voices filled the heavens. You could feel it right down to your bones.

How could anyone top that?

And as their last note faded, that’s when we saw them - Heaven and Nature walked on stage – they embraced as we were cheering. I couldn’t believe they were together once again.

I thought I was ready but man, that sound? When Heaven and Nature sang, I mean! When Heaven and Nature sang, it resonated through all creation – the fields, the hills couldn’t help but repeat the resounding joy.

It was everything we could have hoped for – the glory of God’s righteousness, the wonders of His love! They sang their hearts out and we sang along, knowing every word. Everyone coming together to let Jesus know just how much He is adored.

You know, it was like Heaven and Earth had never been apart.

And by the end of their set the applause was deafening. They of course did an encore – it had to be: ‘Joy to the World’. Brilliant!

All the way home we kept the song going – glorifying and praising God for all we had seen and heard. The Messiah – bridging the gap, heralding peace between God and humankind.

“The wonders of His love! The wonders of His love!”

I can’t wait for when Heaven and Nature worship Jesus together again for a permanent reunion.

I recommend reserving your seats early.

Meanwhile – we have the set list. And we can sing.

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!

#RedeemerRecommends - It's Not Too Early For A Christmas Album!

Christmas has come early for this week’s #RedeemerReccommends!

I have been working on arrangements for carols for this year’s Christmas events at Redeemer (find out more HERE) and inevitably that means listening to A LOT of Christmas carols, and I’m certainly not complaining, as there’s some fantastic Christmas albums out there!

I wanted to recommend one in particular which I have loved listening to recently, Joy to the World (Live) by Jeremy Riddle!

The album has got some fantastic live versions of Christmas classics like O Come All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, and of course Joy To The World, as well as a new recording of All Hail King Jesus.

In an interview prior to the EP’s release in November 2018, Jeremy talked about wanting to recapture the awe and wonder associated with the celebration of Christmas, and he definitely does so with this superb collection of songs.

You can hear more of his vision for the album below…