Happy first week of Advent!

Here’s 1 thought, 2 quotes and 3 songs for you this week:

1 Thought from Me

Did you know that the most popular Christmas carol was not originally written for Christmas? Joy to the World was written by Isaac Watts as a paraphrase of Psalm 98. This Psalm is a call to praise God for revealing his righteousness, faithfulness and salvation in the sight of all the nations. Watts published these verses in his Psalms of David Imitated, in which he recast the Psalms in light of Christ. The song is most clearly about Christ’s second coming, the time when he “rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness.”

The song became associated with Christmas after Lowell Mason wrote a melody for the text that communicates joy so clearly. We live in the “already” and the “not yet” of the truths of Psalm 98. May the Lord hasten the day when there will be no more sin, sorrow, nor thorns infesting the ground!

2 Quotes

I.
The divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. - J.I. Packer (Source)

II.
Let earth and heaven combine,
angels and men agree,
to praise in songs divine
the incarnate Deity,
our God contracted to a span,
incomprehensibly made man. - Charles Wesley (Source)

3 Congregation-Friendly Versions of Joy to the World

I.
Shane & Shane, Phil Wickham - YouTube / Spotify / PraiseCharts / Lifeway

II.
Seph Schlueter - YouTube / Spotify / PraiseCharts

III.
Keith & Kristyn Getty - YouTube / Spotify / Getty Music