The Bells of Christmas Chime Once More: Keeping Christmas at St. John’s
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The cookies, the baked goods, the family recipes. The music, the lights, the ugly Christmas sweaters. The the toys, the socks, the candy that doesn’t taste as good as you remember. The memories: Grampa singing, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” at the annual Christmas concert singalong; pinning the gift bows on the dog. The movies: It’s a Wonderful Life, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and of course, Red Boots for Christmas.
These are all wonderful gifts from God, but not really what Christmas is about. And as much as we can and should enjoy them, it’s important that we distinguish between sentimentality and piety, because the two can feel pretty similar. Christmas is about God coming to dwell with us in grace and redeem our broken humanity! We keep Christmas not by chasing childhood nostalgia with presents wrapped in mystery, but by receiving Christ’s Body and Blood mysteriously wrapped in bread and wine for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The hymn below, sung at St. John’s this year for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, musically captures all this.
The lyrics of the outer stanzas were originally written in Danish in 1817 by Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig. While he’s most known to US Christians for his hymns, his work in Rødding, Denmark to found public schools, which quickly spread to the rest of Scandinavia, earned him the title “father of the public school in Scandinavia.” For more on Lutherans and Education, check out this book.
The English translation was made by Charles Porterfield Krauth, an American Lutheran Seminary professor born in Martinsburg, Virginia, in 1823. He’s best known for his landmark The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology.
The third stanza and beginning of the fourth is inspired by a memorable Joel Biermann rant in a Systematic Theology class at the Seminary, against “go-to-Calvary” hymns. You can check out some of his books here.
And to continue the Communion theme, the next three stanzas come from a forgotten Communion hymn by Pastor Emanuel Cronenwett of the old Ohio Synod.
Lastly, the music was composed by Carl Christian Nicolai Balle, a Danish pastor and amateur musician from the time of Grundtvig. You can hear it here.
1 The bells of Christmas chime once more,
The heavenly Guest is at the door,
The blessed words the shepherds thrill,
The joyous tidings: “Peace, goodwill.”
2 Awake our hearts, in gladness sing,
And keep this Christmas with our King.
The darkest night is overcome
And Jacob’s star outshines the sun.
3 But do not fly to Bethlehem;
No need to hear the angels hymn.
For lo upon the altar lies
In flesh the One who holds the skies!
4 Yes, at the rail we meet God’s grace
And stand as guests before his face.
As Host he spreads no common food,
But his own Body and his Blood!
5 How holy is this Sacrament,
Where pardon, peace, and life are spent!
This bread and cup my lips here press;
You bless me, Lord, and I am blessed!
6 So, Holy Spirit, come, we pray,
And help us keep the holy day.
With David’s harpstrings, glad and free,
We’ll sing the song of jubilee.1
Merry Christmas!
- Text: St. 1-2,6 NFS Grundtvig, 1783-1872; tr. Charles Porterfield Krauth, 1823-1883, alt.
St. 3 MDS
St. 4-5 Emanuel Cronenwett, 1841-1931, alt.
Tune: CCN Balle, 1806-1855
Public domain ↩︎