Behind the Praise - Sunday December 6, 2009

"We Three Kings"


Written by Rev. John Henry Hopkins (1820-1891) in 1857, he wrote both the music and lyrics of this carol. In 1863 the said Christmas carol was published in Rev. Hopkins' Carols, Hymns and Song. "We Three Kings" was written for the General Theological Seminary in New York during their Christmas pageant. Interesting Fact: Aside from being a writer and editor, Hopkins was also a stained glass artist and book illustrator.

We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain

Following yonder star O Star of wonder, star of night
Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy Perfect Light

Click here for an arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHf1p3C8iVw

Click here for another arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDe3zcTejjQ

"O Come All Ye Faithful"

Also known in Latin as "Adeste Fidelis", this Christmas carol is credited to an English hymnist named John Francis Wade (1711-1786). Written originally in Latin, 'O Come All Ye Faithful', it was penned as a hymn by an Englishman called John Wade. In Latin, it is known as 'Adeste Fideles'. Another Englishman called John Reading composed its music in early 1700s, which was first published in 'Cantus Diversi' in 1751. Rev. Frederick Oakley translated it to English in 1841.

Click here to read more about the history of the song:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeste_Fideles

Click here to listen to Bianca Ryan sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I8XAf4Rwa4

Click here to hear a traditional setting:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZKp4npV47Q&feature=related

Click here for the various recordings of this Carol:
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=o+come+all+ye+faithful&search_type=&aq=f

"Mary did You know"

Mark Lowry is best known as a singer and comedian who spent more than a decade as a regular fixture of Bill Gaither's vocal band. But years from now, when all is said and done, Lowry's most enduring legacy will probably be the beautiful little song that he wrote 18 years ago as a meditation for a Christmas program at his church.
In 1984, the leaders at Lowry's Nashville congregation asked him if he'd be willing to write a musical for Advent. He gladly agreed.Inspiration came as Lowry focused his heart and mind on the wonder of Christmas.
"I tried to picture Mary holding the baby Jesus on the first Christmas morning and wondered what she was thinking about that child," he says. "She knew he was special—the Virgin Birth was her first clue—but could she ever imagine all the things that he would do while he was here?"
Soon, Lowry came up with a series of questions that he would like to ask Mary: "Did she know he would walk on water? Raise the dead? Give sight to the blind?"
Lowry decided to use the questions as a monologue to be recited between the scenes of his musical. But the profundity of those questions lingered in his mind long after the church musical was done.
Six years later, harmonica virtuoso Buddy Greene supplied just the right music and "Mary, Did You Know?" was complete.
Since then, Lowry and Greene's tune has become a modern classic. It has been recorded by more than 30 different artists (besides Lowry), including Kenny Rogers, Kathleen Battle, and Reba McEntire.
"I hear from a lot of people who have sung it in the church choir for Christmas and Easter programs," says Lowry. "When I wrote it, I felt there was something special there, but I never imagined how wide-reaching it would become."

Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfpK6cNPF7Y

"Lord I lift Your Name on High"

Rick Founds wrote this song.It was written in 1989 during Found's morning devotion. Having developed the habit of playing guitar while watching television, he found it very natural to play while reading Scripture on his computer monitor."I'd just reach over and grab my guitar," he recalls. "I'd plunk along with whatever I was reading that day."He remembers marveling one early morning at the love of God who created the world though He knew we would rebel and fall. It amazed Rick that God had a plan to redeem us from the very beginning. As Founds meditated over his cyber-Bible and touched his guitar strings, God's plan struck him as something of a cycle.He thought of the cycle of rain that comes down, waters the earth, evaporates back into the clouds and then returns.Suddenly, the now famous chorus emerged: "You came from heaven to earth to show the way / From the earth to the cross my debt to pay / From the cross to the grave / From the grave to the sky..." Interrupting his own lyric, Founds explains, "The response to grasping even a little bit of that knowledge is praise, and thanksgiving and gratitude!" When he completes the line, 'Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,' a moment of silent awe follows.

Click here to read more about this Carol:
www.ccli.com/WorshipResources/SongStories.cfm?itemID=11

Click here to worship along with Rick Founds:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBezK_v_FqY

Click here to worship along with the group Petra:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cx5YmS7GXQ&feature=related

Click here to worship along with some great images:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OF5iaFNE7Q


“You are For me”

Click here to visit Kari Jobe’s website:
http://www.karijobe.com/

Click here to hear Kari share about how she wrote the song:
www.youtube.com/watchv=mB4phSOaheM&feature=PlayList&p=E7841C140C8806D7&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7
Click here to listen to Kari Jobe sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdfKTTeGj2U&feature=fvw

Click here to purchase “You are for me”




"Tell me the Story of Jesus"

This great hymn was written by Fanny Crosby, here is some short information on her testimony:

The story of Fanny Crosby is one of sorrow, yet of the deepest love. At the age of six weeks old, Fanny developed an eye infection. The family physician was unavailable so another physician was called. He applied hot mustard poultices to the baby’s eyes. This caused severe burns to Fanny’s eyes and she was permanently blind from then on.Fanny never felt bitter but instead grew into a young woman who “saw” God in everything around her and in every circumstance that life handed to her. Although she was physically blind, Fanny had the keenest of spiritual sight…which is reflected in her 9,000 plus hymns. Her love for God and her eagerness to share with others what Christ had done for them brought countless numbers to Christ.


Click here to hear a gaither video of the song great harmony:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cclh18f3Fc4

Click here to hear a great trio sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JezvAf3PGfU

"The First Noel"

The word Nowell comes from the French word Noël meaning "Christmas", from the Latin word natalis ("birth"). It may also be from the Gaulish words "noio" or "neu" meaning "new" and "helle" meaning "light" referring to the winter solstice when sunlight begins overtaking darkness.


Click here to read more about the song:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_No%C3%ABl#Animaniacs_parody

Click here to listen to Clay Aiken sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJhlB-CzCsc

Click here to hear Helmut Lotti sing the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=We4xRHMuCNg&feature=related**

Click here for an interesting arrangement - one person, two guitars:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cyWiw3cSOI



“Crown Him with Many Crowns”

This worshipful text is the combined effort of two distinguished Anglican clergymen, each of whom desired to write a hymn of exaltation to our suffering but now victorious Lord.
Matthew Bridges' version first appeared in 1851 with six stanzas. Twenty-three years later Godfrey Thring wrote six additional stanzas, which appeared in his collection Hymns and Sacred Lyrics. The hymn's present forrn includes stanzas one, two, and four by Bridges and the third verse by Thring.
Each crown in this hymn text exalts Christ for some specific aspect of His person or ministry—
(1) Stanza one for His eternal Kingship;
(2) stanza two for His love demonstrated in redemptive suffering; (
(3) stanza three for His victorious resurrection and ascension, and
(4) stanza four as a member of the Triune Godhead ever worthy of worship and praise.
The tune, Diadernata (the Greek word for crowns), was composed especially for this text by George Elvey, a noted organist at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, England, where British royalty often attend.
Click here to read more about this hymn:
http://songsandhymns.org/hymns/detail/crown-him-with-many-crowns

Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdK4lzg8gsU

Click here for another arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWCEFKsZqLY