The Songs Tell the Story: A Family Advent DevotionalSample

The Song that Makes Kids Think Some Angels are Named Harold

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” has always been one of the most popular hymns for Christmas. Hardly anyone knows that the words we sing are not the words that were originally sung. The first line of the hymn used to be, “Hark! How all the welkin rings!”

George Whitefield was a powerful preacher, and he made several changes to ancient hymns when he created his hymnal called Collection.

He knew that welkin meant the heavens or angels, but most of the people in his church didn’t. So, he rewrote the first line so people would understand the meaning of the hymn a little better.

Aren’t you glad he did?

A lot of people come to church during the Christmas season who don’t come very often the rest of the year. They like to think about the birth of Christ and sing the Christmas hymns. Chances are, if you look around the church on Sunday morning, you will spot someone you know who doesn’t come very often.

The Christmas season is a great time to invite people to experience Jesus all year. We celebrate Jesus’ birth, but the last stanza of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” says:

Hail! The heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail! The Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings

Mild he lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die:

Born to raise the son of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the new-born King!”

Jesus was born so that we could one day be raised again to eternal life. Christmas is about Easter, too. Jesus came to give us “second birth.”

Will you look around and help others know?

If so, you announce the same glory the “welkin” announced that first Christmas.