"Gather" Bible Study is held on the FOURTH Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the church library.  Please feel free to join us! 
    
 
DECEMBER 2024 Submitted by June Torrison

​​As Christmas time approaches, we sometimes think of past Christmases with our parents and maybe grandparents.  I knew three of my grandparents and remember family gatherings on both sides (Norwegian and German).  My parents did not grow up in the same church, but often talked about the traditions in each. 
One of my mother’s favorite Christmas songs was I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY.  It appeared first as a poem CHRISTMAS BELLS written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1863.  During the dark days of the Civil War there were millions of weary hearts anxiously waiting for peace.  Longfellow’s young son was a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac and had been seriously injured in a battle.  The melody was composed by J. Baptiste Calkin, a London organist, in 1872
I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat, of peace on earth, good will to men.
 
I thought, how as the day had come, the belfries of all Christendom
Had roll’d along, the unbroken song of peace on earth, good will to men.
 
And in despair, I bowed my head, “There is no peace on earth”, I said,
“for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men”.
 
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:  God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.
 
And I can remember hearing my Dad sing Oh Tannenbaum in German.  My youngest sister majored in German.  She always asked my daughter to sing the song for her, also in German.  During the last three years of her life, my sister was unable to speak.  Her caregiver was using a letter board so she could communicate.  When they got to the letter “O”, they realized that she wanted Jill to sing it for her again so she did on the telephone.    That was her last Christmas.  You may know this song as O CHRISTMAS TREE, a German folk tune. 
 
                O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blatter.
                Du grunst nicht nurzer Sommerzeit, nein auch im Winter wennescheit;
                O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind diene Blatter!
 
I realize that Jesus was not specifically mentioned in either of those songs.  So here is one from the 1700s, originally in Latin, and some of us have sung it in it Latin.  It was often used in France as a processional hymn by the religious orders on their way to midnight mass.  The original name was ADESTE FIDELES.
 
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
                Come and behold him, born the King of Angels;
O come let us adore Him O come let us adore Him O come let us adore Him, Chris