The Word

Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Reflect

By Rev. Patrick Hunnicutt, Associate Pastor

Truth be told, I am writing this devotional in July, a mere two days from returning from our graced mission trip to Kenya, where we celebrated time with the children whose nurture and care are our great privilege to support. In the aftermath of this trip, Christmas seems far off, just as the climate and rhythms of July no doubt seem far away to you as you read this reflection.

This is the joy of Christmas, that the God who may seem at times to be far away, like a distant thought or memory from another season, becomes enfleshed and near to us in the form of the Christ child around whose manger we return. Isaiah proclaims a time for singing, for joy, that God has come, baring his arm, before the eyes of all the nations. Those who are at a great distance from God and one another are brought near.

This is what we experienced on our trip –a nearness to those far away that led us to sing and celebrate in new and deep ways. The video below offers a quick glimpse of the welcome and joy that awaited us when we arrived, a foretaste of the community and connection that emerged in our short time together. “I am praising God,” the children sing. Let’s sing that too.

Hopefully, you have joined in a hymn or carol or two and given voice to the praise you feel or the joy you seek. Consider how that which is far from you is brought near by the bared arm of the Lord, whose love is for the ends of the earth — from a children’s home in Kenya to the people and places of our local communities. If you are able to participate in worship today, sing with extra gumption, giving the Christ Child your welcome. And then let us see what it means to serve and live in a God who has drawn near and draws us closer to every child on earth.

Prayer: Lord, we praise you today with singing. Mold wonder from our melodies, as we celebrate the birth of Christ in our broken and fearful world. Amen.

Listen

By Dr. Ben Hutchens

Sir David Willcocks’s setting of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is one of the most influential and widely sung arrangements of the carol in the Anglican choral tradition. First published in Carols for Choirs (1961), it reflects Willcocks’s hallmark balance of congregational accessibility and choral brilliance. The arrangement preserves the traditional tune, “Adeste fideles,” but enriches it with confident harmonizations, strong bass movement, and carefully judged dynamic shaping. Its most distinctive feature is the triumphant final stanzas, where Willcocks adds a soaring descant above the melody, transforming the carol into a moment of radiant proclamation suitable for major feast days.

The Willcocks setting embodies Christmas as a festival of joy and theological clarity. The steady, march-like pulse underscores the text’s call to worship, while the descant on “Sing, choirs of angels” heightens the sense of heavenly praise and communal celebration. Because it invites full-throated participation from choir, congregation, and organ alike, this setting has become a cornerstone of Christmas worship, especially in cathedral and parish contexts. For many singers and listeners, Willcocks’s “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is not merely an arrangement but the definitive sound of Christmas itself.  May your Christmastide be filled with the joy of the angels as we remember again the birth of Jesus, the Christ.  Merry Christmas!