Joy to the World

It’s time to haul out some of our Christmas favourites, including this one, written in 1719 by minister Isaac Watts. He is said to have based the verses on Psalm 98. And then in 1848, a gentleman called Lowell Mason changed the music to what we know today. And surprise, surprise, there are similarities to some of Handel’s arrangements of the Messiah.

Do you appreciate it when others add or build on what you have prepared? Or do you sulk and whine because your plans have been changed?

Do you always make your lemon cake into a loaf and then despair at someone who uses muffin cups instead? Are you the type of parent who divorces a spouse and then complains at a stepdad’s methods?

I could go on, but isn’t it time we appreciate what others contribute to the bare bones of what we started? Here are the bare bones of Newton’s hymn. Let’s live what we sing. Joy to the World!

Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let Earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing,

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns; Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy,

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  (John 15:9-17)

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