Here's 1 thought, 2 quotes, and 3 hymn notes for you this week…

1 Thought From Me

Did you sing “Hark! How All the Welkin Rings” by Charles Wesley this Sunday?

Neither did I.

This phrase was the original first line of the hymn we now call “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” “Welkin” refers to the heavens or sky. When evangelist George Whitefield republished Wesley’s hymn in a new collection, he changed the line to “Hark! the herald angels sing.” It wasn’t until 71 years after the hymn’s initial publication that it reached the form we know it today. (I suspect Wesley would have liked to live in an era with copyright protection, so others couldn’t edit his hymns quite as freely!)

One lesson we can draw from this hymn is that none of us write so well that we don’t need feedback, critique or revision. If a hymn by one of the greatest Christian poets in the English language was bettered by the revision of others, how much more might our art be improved by feedback and suggested edits? Are there any parts of your creative output (service orders, songs, song arrangements, etc) that might serve the church even better if you collaborated with someone else?

2 Quotes from Others

I. “Excellence is the process – note that word process – of becoming better than I once was.” - Harold Best (Source)

II.
“Good writing is essentially rewriting.” - Roald Dahl (Source)

3 Names of Christ in "Hark! The Herald"

One of the reasons “Hark! the Herald” is beloved is because it packs so much Bible (both narrative and theology) in its few short lines. Jesus isn’t just called “Jesus,” but referred to with multiple Biblical titles rich with meaning:

I.
“Hail the sun of righteousness… ris’n with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2)

II.
“Jesus our Emmanuel” (Matthew 1:23)

III.
“The heav’n-born Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6)

More here.