Preparing for Sunday, 12/11/11 (Advent)

This is our 1 & 2 Samuel Recap Sunday. Jordan will be preaching, pulling together all we've learned about what God shows us about Himself in the lives of David and Saul. Jordan will be focusing on 2 Samuel 7, and the covenant God made with David and David's line, which absolutely affects our celebration of Christmas and Advent as a church. God has made a covenant to set His love on His people. And we have assurance of God's covenant love for us because He didn't even spare His own Son to provide forgiveness for our sin. We are God's blood-bought, adopted children, and we gather during the Advent season to reflect on Christ's incarnation, and long together for Christ's second return.

We'll sing the following carols this week. Make sure you're there to be a part of our Christmas worship. And be ready to sing loud and well!

1. Joy to the World (Unspeakable Joy)

A fresh, but not too different arrangement of the hymn by Isaac Watts, originally written in 1719. This is a great hymn that bridges the fulfilled prophesies from Isaiah about the coming Messiah, with the ultimate completion of Christ's lordship at His second coming. The song speaks of the governmental, worldwide peace that Christ will bring, that we still look ahead to with hope and expectation. The chorus of this one express the "unspeakable joy" we have because God has kept His promises and provided a Savior for His people.

2. The First Noel

"The First Noel" is a favorite of our church, a traditional English carol, that we'll also play in a "fresh" arrangement. Little known factoid: "noel" is a French word for "Christmas." This is a song of worship and reflection on the first Christmas, when our King was born in Bethlehem.

3. O Holy Night

This one's a French carol, written in 1847. I really don't know of a better song that combines reflection and meditation, celebration and praise, than this one. The combination between melody and poetry is pretty amazing. This song speaks of Christ, our Lord, deserving of eternal praise, coming to dwell with us and break our chains of sin. We'd better sing this one with gusto.

For an extra treat, here's another version of "O Holy Night" by David Phelps. This version is one-of-a-kind. You have to skip the interview, to 1:28, where the song starts.