Angels We Have Heard On High, O Little Town of Bethlehem, The First Noel, We Three Kings of Orient Are, and so many more beloved Christmas hymns tell the story of Jesus’ birth. These hymns put the Gospel texts of Matthew and Luke into the universal language of music. As the world hears Silent Night, we stand still; people’s hearts can recognize the power and beauty of that night. 

Christmas hymns bring back sweet memories from our childhood and continue to make memories for us every Christmas. 

As a little girl, one of my first “hymn memories” was holding so tightly to my Daddy’s strong hand. I watched the Bethel Methodist choir coming into the old church singing O Come, All Ye Faithful. The organ music reverberated through the sanctuary. I thought surely angels must be processing into the church.

As a young mother, there are few things sweeter than hearing your children sing Christmas hymns. There is one Weekday School Christmas program that is a special treasured memory for me. Our youngest son Chase with his best friend Adam stood side by side. They wore little white choir robes with red satin collars and sang Away in a Manger.

As parents there is great joy when your children find their marriage partner. Joe and I watched our oldest daughter and her husband process out of the Sanctuary to Joy to The World that December evening in 1997. We truly saw Joy on Jane Courtney’s and Marc’s faces that we will never forget.

As a member of FPC, to be with my church family at Christmas is a powerful worship experience, especially as we raise our candles in the darkened Sanctuary on Christmas Eve. At that moment, we feel surrounded by the power and glory of the night Our Savior was born.

This year may we hear anew the telling of the story of the Lord’s Birth. And may “Peace and Good Will” be proclaimed in our city, our country, and in every corner of the world. 
  
Jennifer Biber

About the Contributor

Jennifer Biber serves as an elder and co-leader of Christians in the Making, a weekly women’s Bible study. She is a wife, mother and grandmother.