December 24: Come and Worship
♫ Music:
Day 28 - Saturday, December 24
CHRISTMAS EVE
Title: COME AND WORSHIP
Scripture: Psalm 25:6-7
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
Poetry & Poet:
“A Christmas Carol”
by Christina Rosetti
The Shepherds had an Angel,
The Wise Men had a star,
But what have I, a little child,
To guide me home from far,
Where glad stars sing together
And singing angels are?
Those Shepherds through the lonely night
Sat watching by their sheep,
Until they saw the heavenly host
Who neither tire nor sleep,
All singing “Glory, glory,”
In festival they keep.
The Wise Men left their country
To journey morn by morn,
With gold and frankincense and myrrh,
Because the Lord was born:
God sent a star to guide them
And sent a dream to warn.
My life is like their journey,
Their star is like God’s book;
I must be like those good Wise Men
With heavenward heart and look:
But shall I give no gifts to God?—
What precious gifts they took!
TAKING STEPS TO THE SAVIOR
We suited up in the choir room. That space, cavernous and wide with tall windows, was upstairs, down the hall in the corner ––across from where the acolytes, the big kids, pulled on red cassocks and unsheathed gold-colored candle-holders and a heavy brass cross.
At Christmas time, we were there three times in two days: Christmas Eve, Christmas midnight, and Christmas morning.
We, the little people, wore thick black cassocks under fluttery white surplices. Our stiffly starched collars had to be tied with black string by the wrinkled, sometimes smiling woman whose cold fingers I recall on my throat. We were the children’s choir—a mix of boys and girls. The boys could sing higher and with a purer tone than the girls, if we had good head tone.
I learned the wonder of Christmas in that big room with the well-worn grand piano. Forever afterward, Christmas to me would be about music, but not just any music. The music of our Savior’s birth was ancient and majestic, brought to life by the short, round Mr. Aulbach. Blinking at us through thick glasses, he would wave the beat in the air as he pounded the keys, and we followed along.
Music in my upbringing involved motion. We singers were always part of a processional that moved slowly from the front of the sanctuary sometimes all the way to the back, then up the long center aisle, under the rood screen, to the chancel choir stalls near a marble altar.
At Christmas, candles were everywhere in that dimly-lit sanctuary—a place that was dark even in broad daylight. And on Christmas Eve, more than any other time, it had about it a mystery and wonder that filled me with holy fear and intense joy. “O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,” I would hear in song. “There is room in my heart for Thee.” As the psalmist sings “Come, let us worship…”
To a child, the world is a big place. Like my vaulted church sanctuary, it is rife with hidden things —mysteries dark and inexplicable. Children absorb the wonder of worship, and of Christmas, in ways we too often miss. We’re too busy trying to stop their wiggling, their talking, or their distractedness. But when we get down to their level, listening with their ears, seeing with their wide eyes, we can be transported back to that time when we asked, like Christina Rosetti, “what have I, a little child, to guide me?” Jesus, at this time of year, is there for the children as much as for the adults if we’ll explain it all, bringing them into the wonder—including the music of soulful celebration.
The photos of people in procession, each scene in darkness, show intensity of facial expression, of body language—all of them seeking God in ways personal, yet also collective. Music, we surmise, surrounds them in a harmony of shared hunger for Jesus; it invites us, like them, to follow the risen Savior unrelentingly.
Prayer:
I am coming, my Jesus. I am coming with my face upward and my hands open, for You have called me. And like a little child who trusts his father, who believes his mother, I am restless until I am enfolded in your arms. I need you in this dark world that shuns the light and rejects You at every step. And I thank you for the music, for the lights in dark places, and for the silence of your smile and your tender but firm grasp of my mind, my body, my soul. There is room in my heart for You, now and always.
Amen
Dr. Michael A. Longinow
Chair, Department of Digital Journalism and Media
Adviser, Print Journalism; Adviser, The Chimes
Co-Adviser, Media Narrative Projects
Department of Digital Journalism and Media
School of Fine Arts and Communication
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork #1:
Mexican Los Posadas Procession
Photographer Unknown
Las Posadas is a religious festival celebrated in Mexico and some parts of the United States between December 16 and 24. Las Posadas commemorates the journey that Joseph and Mary made from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of a safe refuge where Mary could give birth. Each evening during the festival, a small child dressed as an angel leads a procession through the streets of the town. The procession is primarily made up of children dressed in silver and gold robes carrying lit candles and images of Mary and Joseph riding a donkey. Adults, including musicians, follow the procession, which visits selected homes and asks for lodging for Joseph and Mary. Traditionally, the procession is always refused lodging, though the hosts often provide refreshments. At each stop, passages of Scripture are read and Christmas carols are sung. Mass is held each day after the procession, and, at the conclusion of the service, children break open star-shaped pinatas filled with candy, toys, and, occasionally, money.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Las-Posadas
About the Artwork #2:
Ethiopian Christmas Procession
Photographer Unknown
Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa and one of the very few places where the ancient Julian calendar, in accordance with the Coptic Church, is still followed. This means that Christmas is celebrated on the seventh of January instead of the twenty-fifth of December; and Christmas holidays are referred to as “Ye Ganna Bal” which means "the Birth of Christ." On January sixth, Ethiopian Christmas Eve, people observe a fast which is broken the following morning. Many people travel by foot from church to church and the city is crowded with pilgrims praying, chanting, and singing carols on the streets. The main ceremonial activities of the holiday center around local Ethiopian Orthodox churches (though Protestants and Catholics also celebrate), which hold late-night services on Christmas Eve lasting well past midnight. For the mass, everyone is clad in a thin, white cotton traditional cloth called the "Shamma," which has bright stripes at the end. This garment is worn like a toga, however urban Ethiopians may just wear white western attire. Traditional liturgical singing marks these services, as does chanting performed by priests and deacons wearing robes with gold and silver accents.
https://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-world/ethiopia.html
https://worqambatour.com/Ethiopianxmascelebration.html
Music #1:
“Angels from the Realms of Glory” from the album A Dan Forrest Christmas
Lyrics #1:
Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.
Refrain:
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
Yonder shines the infant light:
Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen His natal star.
Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear;
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear.
Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you; break your chains.
Though an Infant now we view Him,
He shall fill His Father’s throne,
Gather all the nations to Him;
Every knee shall then bow down:
All creation, join in praising
God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To the eternal Three in One.
"Angels from the Realms of Glory" is a Christmas carol written by Scottish poet James Montgomery. It was first printed in the Sheffield Iris on Christmas Eve 1816, though it only began to be sung in churches after its 1825 reprinting in the Montgomery collection The Christian Psalmist and in the Religious Tract Society's The Christmas Box or New Year's Gift.
About the Composer:
James Montgomery (1771–1854) was a Scottish-born hymn writer, poet, and editor, who settled in Sheffield. He was raised in the Moravian Church and theologically trained there, so his writings often reflect concern for humanitarian causes, such as the abolition of slavery and the exploitation of child chimney sweeps.
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-angels-from-the-realms-of-glory
About the Music #2:
“O Come All Ye Faithful” from the album A Dan Forrest Christmas
Lyrics #2:
Oh, come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant!
Oh, come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him,
Born the King of angels;
Oh, come, let us adore him; (x3)
Christ, the Lord.
Hey yah! Hey yah! Hey yah hey yah hey yah (x4)
Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation;
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, Glory in the highest;
Oh, come, let us adore him; (O Come) (x2)
Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.
Oh, come, let us adore him; (O Come) (x2)
Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord (x3)
Christ the Lord Christ the Lord!
Hey yah! Hey yah! Hey yah hey yah hey yah (x4)
Hey yah! Hey yah! Hey yah hey yah hey yah (x4)
La la la la la la la la la la la la…
About the Performers #1 and #2:
Beckenhorst Singers
Church choirs across the country, as well as distant venues such as Fiji, sing sacred songs with the help of a small music publishing business located in Columbus, Ohio. Beckenhorst Press Inc. is one of only about ten publishers of sacred choral music in the United States. Beckenhorst Press has published about 3,000 titles. The Beckenhorst Singers are hired by the publisher for each of the different recordings.
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/northwest/2017/08/07/beckenhorst-press-helps-keep-world/20000602007/
https://beckenhorstpress.com/
About the Composer/Arranger #1 and #2:
Dan Forrest (b. 1978) is an American composer, pianist, educator, and music editor. He majored in piano at Bob Jones University, earning a B.Mus. and an M.Mus. in piano performance as well as studying advanced theory and composition. Forrest's compositions include choral, instrumental, orchestral, and wind band works. His published works have sold millions of copies worldwide. Perhaps Forrest's best known work is Requiem for the Living (2013), which has seen several hundred performances worldwide. His other major works, Jubilate Deo (2016) and LUX: The Dawn From On High (2018), have also been widely performed. Forrest taught music theory and composition at The University of Kansas as a graduate assistant from 2004 to 2007, and at Bob Jones University from 2007 to 2012, where he served as chairman of the department of music theory and composition. He now serves as co-editor at Beckenhorst Press; regularly teaches composition lessons and masterclasses; and speaks about composing, music-making, aesthetics, music publishing, and the music business in guest-artist residencies with universities and choirs in the United States and abroad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Forrest
https://danforrest.com/
About the Poetry & Poet:
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) was a Victorian poet who is known for her simple, lyrical work. She published poems in the feminist periodicals The English Woman’s Journal and Victoria Magazine, as well as in various other anthologies. Today her poetry is regarded as some of the most beautiful and innovative of the period. Critical interest in Rossetti’s poetry was renewed in the last decades of the twentieth century, a resurgence largely generated by the emergence of feminist criticism. Her work strongly influenced the work of writers such as Ford Madox Ford, Virginia Woolf, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Jennings, and Philip Larkin. Critic Basil de Selincourt stated that she was “all but our greatest woman poet…incomparably our greatest craftswoman…probably in the first twelve of the masters of English verse.” Rossetti’s Christmas poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” became widely known after her death when it was set as a Christmas carol, first by Gustav Holst and then by Harold Darke. Her poem “Love Came Down at Christmas” has also been widely arranged as a carol.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/christina-rossetti
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Rossettihttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/christina-r
Dr. Michael A. Longinow
Chair, Department of Digital Journalism and Media
Adviser, Print Journalism; Adviser, The Chimes
Co-Adviser, Media Narrative Projects
Department of Digital Journalism and Media
School of Fine Arts and Communication
Biola University
Michael Longinow was a choir boy, who sometimes had a good head tone, at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois. He later sang in the choir at Judson Baptist Church and failed a tonal memory test at Moody Bible Institute. He did general assignment reporting for daily newspapers in the Chicago area and Atlanta area and now teaches reporting, writing and ethics in Biola’s Department of Digital Journalism and Media in the School of Fine Arts & Communication. His wife Robin is principal at Whittier Christian High School and his adult children, all of whom attended Biola, live in California. He and Robin have five wide-eyed grandchildren and they live in Yorba Linda with their sometimes wide-eyed golden retriever, Bentley.