This weekend in 12/15 worship

Dear Grace Family,

This Sunday our Celebration Choir will present the Christmas Cantata “Sing Joy to All the World.” The title of the cantata sparked my curiosity about the genesis of the Christmas carol for which it is named. Turns out it is an interesting story.

Isaac Watts, a clergy person and one of the great hymn writers of the church, wrote the words for Joy to the World in 1719. He was not, however, writing a Christmas song. In fact, he was not writing a song at all, but a poem based on Psalm 98. Watts decided to write a series of poems in his book “The Psalms of David” with many of them connecting to the New Testament. The words for “Joy to the World come from the second half of his poem on Psalm 98. Here is the first half of the poem.

To our Almighty Maker, God,
New honors be addressed;
His great salvation shines abroad,
And makes the nations blest.

He spake the word to Abraham first;
His truth fulfils the grace;
The Gentiles make his name their trust,
And learn his righteousness.

Let the whole earth his love proclaim
With all her diff’rent tongues,
And spread the honors of his name
In melody and songs.

You can see why these words did not make it into the classic Christmas song. The irony is that the second half was not written about the birth of Christ either. Watts actually was referring to his understanding of the second coming of Christ when Jesus would not only bring joy but rule the world with truth and grace. The song did not become a Christmas hymn until over 100 years later when Lowel Mason put the words to music based on some melodies by George Fredric Handel. Today it has become one of the most popular Christmas hymns of all time. There is a reason that we end the Christmas Eve worship by singing Watts’ words from 1719.

I am looking forward to the Celebration Choir’s presentation of “Sing Joy to All the World” this Sunday. It will prepare all of us to experience the joy of the Christmas season.

See you in worship!

Barry

Each Tuesday Pastor Mitch publishes a devotion on his website Weeklydevotion.com.  If you’d like to receive this in your inbox, drop him an email at   and just say “Sign me up!”