Thought for the Week - 11th December 2022

Dear Friends, 

I wonder if you have a favourite Christmas carol. Classic FM are doing ‘The Nation’s Favourite Carol’ again this year and there are lots to choose from including, ‘In the bleak midwinter’, ‘Ding dong! Merrily on high’, ‘Away in a manger’, and last year’s winner, ‘O holy night’. To sit down and choose one is so difficult but among my favourites is ‘Joy to the world’ which was written by the English hymnwriter Isaac Watts who was born in 1674 in Southampton. He is often referred to as ‘The Father of Hymns’ or ‘The Godfather of English Hymnody’ and is credited with some 750 hymns including ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’, ‘Our God our help in ages past’, and ‘I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath’. Watts attended the Dissenting Academy in Stoke Newington because he came from a non-conformist background and was not allowed to go to Oxford or Cambridge which were restricted to Anglicans at the time, and after his studies became a congregational minister. He wrote ‘Joy to the World’ in 1719, not as a Christmas song – there’s no mention of shepherds, angels, a manger, wise men or any of the other characters of Christmas in the song – but as hymn based upon words from Psalm 98.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth, break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,  with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:4-9)


This is a psalm of praise anticipating the coming of God to rule his people, and we find this anticipation fulfilled in the coming of God’s Son, as the angel announces to both Mary in Luke’s gospel (1:31), and Joseph in Matthew’s gospel (1:21), that they are to call the child Jesus, which means ‘the Lord is Salvation’. This is the news we celebrate at Christmas time – good news, wonderful news, joyful news – indeed ‘Joy to the World!’     

Grace and peace,

Neil

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