Best Loved Christmas Carols, Readings and Poetry
A collection of favourite Christmas carols, poetry and readings – a perfect Christmas gift.This is an ideal Christmas gift, and is packed full of all of your favourite Christmas poems, carols and readings – both traditional and modern.150 much-loved poems, carols and readings have been hand-picked, and arranged alphabetically so that they can be easily found. Each item is introduced with a brief history to the piece and its author, helpfully placing it in context.The pieces are also accompanied by a complete set of indexes which detail first lines, themes, Bible references (where applicable) and authors so that the much-loved works are thoroughly cross referenced and can be found with ease.
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Best-Loved Christmas Carols, Readings and Poetry
Compiled by Martin Manser
Associate Editor: David H. Pickering
Contents
Title Page
Introduction
Index of Titles and First Lines
Author Index
Index of Bible References
Best-Loved Christmas Carols, Readings and Poetry
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
Christmas: the very word conjures up a sense of celebration, excitement … and bustle. The Christmas season is a unique time of year, but the pressures of commercialism, the trappings associated with Christmas and the expectations we have of it all threaten to overshadow its real significance.
At the heart of Christmas is the most amazing fact: God took on our humanity and was born as a child in Bethlehem. This good news, reiterated in many different ways in this collection of carols, poems and readings, is meant to affect our lives the whole year round. So we have included material that explores the implications of Christmas, urging us to lead lives that reflect the message of peace on earth and goodwill to all.
This collection is designed both as a reference work and a resource for personal devotion. Each carol, reading or poem is given an introduction which provides interesting or helpful background information. All the readings are arranged in alphabetical order of title (ignoring ‘A’ or ‘The’ at the beginning of the title). For ease of reference there are also indexes at the beginning of the book to enable you to find a particular item by reference to its title and first line, its author, or, where appropriate, its Bible reference.
It has been a joy to edit this compilation, which we trust will take us back to the heart of the first Christmas, ‘that to you is born … a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord’ (Luke 2:11). May we respond not only with our worship, praise and adoration but also with changed lives that actually live out the message of Christmas all through the year.
Martin H. Manser
David H. Pickering
Index of Titles and First Lines
(where the first line differs from the title, the first line appears in italics)
Adam and Eve in the garden
Adam lay ybounden
All my heart this night rejoices
All the days of Christmas
Angels we have heard on high
Angels, from the realms of glory
The Annunciation
As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being
As with gladness men of old
Away in a manger
Behold a virgin shall conceive
The bells of waiting Advent ring
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God
The Boar’s head carol
The boar’s head in hand bear I
Brightest and best of the sons of the morning
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah
The Calypso carol
Celebrations
Child in the manger
The Christ-child lay on Mary’s lap
Christians, awake!
A Christingle song
The Christingle song begins with an orange
Christmas
Christmas bells
A Christmas carol
A Christmas Carol
Christmas Day in the workhouse
Christmas in India
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
The Christmas now is past, and I have kept my fast
Christmas shopping
A Christmas song
The Christmas tree
Come, Thou long-expected Jesus
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God
The Coventry carol
David’s dynasty will last for ever
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Declare these things
Dim dawn behind the tamarisks – the sky is saffron-yellow –
Ding! dong! merrily on high
Do not let your hearts be troubled
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!
Fastidiously, with gloved and careful fingers
The first Nowell
The first-born of all creation
The flight into Egypt
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all
For unto us a child is born
The friendly beasts
From heaven above to earth I come
From the centre of the ceiling of this kitchen, old Wardle had just suspended
A frosty Christmas Eve
Gaudete!
Go tell it on the mountain
God has spoken
God is love
God rest ye merry, gentlemen
God so loved the world
Good Christian friends, rejoice
Good King Wenceslas
The grace of God
Had a pleasant walk to White Hall
Hail the blest morn! See the great Mediator
Hark! the herald angels sing
He afterwards fell into an Account of the Diversions
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation
He’s got the whole world in His hand
His active little crutch was heard upon the floor
The holly and the ivy
Hush! my dear, lie still and slumber
Hymn on the morning of Christ’s nativity
I am the way
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions
I saw three ships come sailing in
I sing of a maiden
I went to London with my wife, to celebrate Christmas-day
I woke after 7 and got up at 8
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
I’ve just had an astounding dream as I lay in the straw
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields
In the beginning was the Word
In the bleak mid-winter
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah
