COLUMN: The “Rest of the Story” about well-known Christmas carols

Have you ever thought about the Christmas carols we sing during December? Who wrote the carols and where did their inspiration come from to write the words and music?

In “The Complete Book of Hymns: Inspiring Stories about 600 Hymns and Praise Songs,” author William Petersen included in his research the history of well-known Christmas carols.

Just before Christmas in 1818, a church in a village of the Austrian Alps experienced a crisis. Their organ broke down and they needed a Christmas tune that could be played on a guitar. The priest wrote words and the organist penned the music. The carol would have remained obscure if it weren’t for the organ repairman, who heard the song and shared it with others who sang it in concerts. Its popularity began to spread. Today it is one of the most beloved of all Christmas carols – “Silent Night.”

An Anglican layman, William Dix, wrote lyrics for a well-known English folk tune, whose origins trace back to the 1500’s. Dix, a successful insurance salesman in Glasgow, Scotland, experienced a serious illness at age 29 and was confined to bed. He suffered deep depression during this time, but it is said that through it all he met God in a personal way. We still sing this hymn text, written in 1865, to the tune, Greensleeves – “What Child is This?”

Charles Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymn texts, including this Christmas carol described as one of the four most popular hymns in the English language, and it’s filled with powerful scriptural ideas. Wesley’s words, said to have been written about 1740, were set to music using a tune by Felix Mendelssohn, arranged by William Cummings. We celebrate the message of Christmas when we sing – “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

Isaac Watts’ carol does not specifically mention the birth of Christ. His lyrics are based on the last half of Psalm 98, which “celebrates the coming of the Lord to judge the world in righteousness” and “all creation to sing and shout for joy at the Lord’s coming.” Forty-five-year-old Watts wrote this song, history records, while sitting under his favorite tree on the estate of some close friends. He adapted his words to a tune composed by George F. Handel, so we could sing – “Joy to the World.”

The first two verses of this Christmas carol, also known as “Luther’s Cradle Hymn,” were first published in 1885 in a Lutheran hymnal. It’s attributed to Reformation leader Martin Luther, though he was probably not the author. A Methodist minister added a third verse in the early 1900’s.  This song about God becoming a baby is what Christmas is all about – “Away in a Manger.” Last year, I came up with an idea for a fourth verse – one that my church sang on Christmas Sunday.

“The way in a manger, The truth and the life, God’s Son dwelt among us, Our Lord Jesus Christ

The light of the world, The King of all kings, Our Savior, Redeemer, and Prince of Peace.”

Carols help us keep Christ in Christmas and sing our thanks to “God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15) Merry Christmas!

— Jan White has compiled a collection of her columns in her book, “Everyday Faith for Daily Life.”