See, amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on Earth below,
See, the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.
Chorus:
Hail, thou ever blessed morn,
Hail redemption's happy dawn,
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies;
He who, throned in height sublime,
Sits among the cherubim.
Chorus
Say, ye holy shepherds, say,
What your joyful news today;
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?
Chorus
"As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a wondrous light:
Angels singing 'Peace On Earth'
Told us of the Saviour's birth."
Chorus
Sacred Infant, all divine,
What a tender love was Thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this.
Chorus
Teach, O teach us, Holy Child,
By Thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble Thee,
In Thy sweet humility.
Chorus
Born for us on Earth below,
See, the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.
Chorus:
Hail, thou ever blessed morn,
Hail redemption's happy dawn,
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies;
He who, throned in height sublime,
Sits among the cherubim.
Chorus
Say, ye holy shepherds, say,
What your joyful news today;
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?
Chorus
"As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a wondrous light:
Angels singing 'Peace On Earth'
Told us of the Saviour's birth."
Chorus
Sacred Infant, all divine,
What a tender love was Thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this.
Chorus
Teach, O teach us, Holy Child,
By Thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble Thee,
In Thy sweet humility.
Chorus
(E. Caswell. Source)
Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PX7iTtKV04
When we used to sing this at church when I was growing up, the women would often sing v3 (‘Say you holy shepherds’) and the men v4 as the shepherds (‘As we watched at dead of night’). While we sang the verses in unison, some people (my mother often included) would just drop into harmonies as we got to the chorus. (Not always the right harmonies, I grant you!) There’s a sense of belonging that comes from singing together in a group, whether that’s a congregation or choir, and missing that has been hard this year.
Once again we are reminded of God’s coming to earth in Jesus, the wonder that ‘he who built the starry skies’ and receives the praise of angels, is now a baby in a manger, whom shepherds are called by the angels to worship.
The shepherds, of course, turn up in lots of carols. One suggestion is that these particular shepherds were guarding the temple flocks, sheep bred to be offered as sacrifices. If that’s true it would be very appropriately symbolic, given Jesus’s role as the ‘Lamb of God (as referred to in verse 1) who would be ‘sacrificed’ as atonement for humanity’s broken relationship with God.
Israel had history with shepherds. Bethlehem was where David (of David and Goliath fame) was from and presumably where he had been shepherd of his family’s sheep before being anointed as the next king of Israel (see 1 Samuel 16 in the Old Testament). Bethlehem was known as ‘David’s town’ and the prophets had long said that the messiah (or ‘christ’, meaning saviour) who would save Israel would be born there to descendents of David and would himself be a sort of spiritual successor to David. Like David, the messiah/ christ would describe himself as both a king and a shepherd- someone who guides, leads, protects and cares for their followers, who knows them intimately, who is their pastor (which literally means ‘shepherd’).
The difference between David and Jesus, the messiah or Christ, is that David was human and was not always a good example- his flaws including committing adultery and trying to get the woman’s husband killed before he found out (see 2 Samuel 11). While he was seen as the best of Israel’s kings, he was still very human. Jesus, as described in the carol, is different- a ‘sacred infant, all divine’ and yet at the same time, the human shepherd. Mind bending, but amazing.
Anyway, enough about shepherds. Have a picture of a sheep. It was trying to steal my lunch at the time.
When we used to sing this at church when I was growing up, the women would often sing v3 (‘Say you holy shepherds’) and the men v4 as the shepherds (‘As we watched at dead of night’). While we sang the verses in unison, some people (my mother often included) would just drop into harmonies as we got to the chorus. (Not always the right harmonies, I grant you!) There’s a sense of belonging that comes from singing together in a group, whether that’s a congregation or choir, and missing that has been hard this year.
Once again we are reminded of God’s coming to earth in Jesus, the wonder that ‘he who built the starry skies’ and receives the praise of angels, is now a baby in a manger, whom shepherds are called by the angels to worship.
The shepherds, of course, turn up in lots of carols. One suggestion is that these particular shepherds were guarding the temple flocks, sheep bred to be offered as sacrifices. If that’s true it would be very appropriately symbolic, given Jesus’s role as the ‘Lamb of God (as referred to in verse 1) who would be ‘sacrificed’ as atonement for humanity’s broken relationship with God.
Israel had history with shepherds. Bethlehem was where David (of David and Goliath fame) was from and presumably where he had been shepherd of his family’s sheep before being anointed as the next king of Israel (see 1 Samuel 16 in the Old Testament). Bethlehem was known as ‘David’s town’ and the prophets had long said that the messiah (or ‘christ’, meaning saviour) who would save Israel would be born there to descendents of David and would himself be a sort of spiritual successor to David. Like David, the messiah/ christ would describe himself as both a king and a shepherd- someone who guides, leads, protects and cares for their followers, who knows them intimately, who is their pastor (which literally means ‘shepherd’).
The difference between David and Jesus, the messiah or Christ, is that David was human and was not always a good example- his flaws including committing adultery and trying to get the woman’s husband killed before he found out (see 2 Samuel 11). While he was seen as the best of Israel’s kings, he was still very human. Jesus, as described in the carol, is different- a ‘sacred infant, all divine’ and yet at the same time, the human shepherd. Mind bending, but amazing.
Anyway, enough about shepherds. Have a picture of a sheep. It was trying to steal my lunch at the time.
