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“‘Hark! The herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!’”

So Charles Wesley’s 18th-century Christmas hymn as revised by George Whitfield and others would have us sing, usually to a later tune adapted by William H. Cummings from Felix Mendolssohn’s Festgesang an die Künstler. The result is said to be “perhaps the most popular English hymn in the world, noted not only for its scriptural and literary merit, but also its jubilant spirit” (Fred L. Precht, Lutheran Worship: Hymnal Companion [St. Louis; Concordia Publishing House, 1992], 59-61).

Seemingly drawing on Luke 2:13-14; Romans 5:10-11; and John 1:1, 14; 11:26, the hymn declares the meaning of Jesus’s birth for the whole world of sinners deserving death. The Baby in the manger would one day die on the cross, reconciling God and sinners and so bringing peace on earth, peace between God and those who by faith receive the forgiveness Jesus paid for there. Those who so receive that forgiveness through Word and Sacrament are truly moved to rise joyfully to give God glory and to proclaim Jesus’s birth to the rest of the fallen world.

We will be singing quite a number of good Christmas hymns in the four services that Pilgrim Lutheran Church is offering during the Twelve Days of the Christmas season that bridges 2015 and 2016. You are invited to each and every service! The season begins with special services: our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service of Readings and Hymns at 6:00 p.m. on December 24th (featuring a number of Gospel Readings) and our Christmas Day Divine Service at 10:00 a.m. on December 25th (including the usual reading of John 1:1-14). The two Sundays of the Christmas season are as follows:

  • First Sunday (12/27): The infant Jesus is praised at the Temple (Luke 2:22-40)
  • Second Sunday (01/30): The boy Jesus teaches in the Temple (Luke 2:40-52)

The season’s notes of joy, celebration, gladness, light, purity, and innocence are especially reflected in the white color of the paraments on the chancel furnishings and of the pastor’s vestments.

If you cannot make it in person, you can listen to recordings of the sermons here. For more information about Christmas, Pilgrim Lutheran Church, and the like, please use the Contact Information at right.

“Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With the angelic host proclaim,
‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’
Hark! The herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the newborn King!’” (Lutheran Service Book 380:1)

The banner graphic on the top of this page and the slider graphic on the main page are based on an image found here, where its artist was not identified. The graphics were composed by Carla Adsit, to whom we here express our appreciation.