Welcome

“ In the church calendar this is the period when we find the wheels of time propelling us once again to a new year and celebrations of the birth of the Son of God anew.

AS I write, a review copy of a book chronicling the history of some of our best loved Christmas carols is sitting on my desk (see page 34).

In the church calendar this is the period when we find the wheels of time propelling us once again to a new year and celebrations of the birth of the Son of God anew. In the secular world, Christmas decorations, gifts and cards are creeping on to the shelves of our shops and catalogues filled with festive fare are dropping through the letterbox or dropping into email mailboxes.

The music of the season is also upon us – not just the endless stream of Christmas hits beloved by retailers to encourage shoppers to spend – but rather the carols that have endured the test of centuries, rather than decades.

According to historians, there were once carols associated with every season of the year, but with the passage of time they have fallen out of fashion and only Christmas carols have endured, possibly because many of the trappings – including carols – were beloved and fully embraced by Victorian Britain which created many of the ‘traditions’ associated with a western Christmas. The music and verse of carols is also drawn from around the globe – and not just one place, eg the words of Away In A Manger are believed to have been written anonymously in the USA and then circulated in magazines, fuelling popularity. The oldest tune (although the words were composed separately) is Adeste fideles – the familiar version of O Come All Ye Faithful, which can be traced back to the 17th century.

Perhaps the power of the carols lies in the simplicity of the message at their heart: the retelling of the miracle at the centre of the Christmas story – the birth of the Son of God made flesh in the humblest of surroundings in a small Middle Eastern town on a dark, cold, starry night.

Amid the scents and sounds of the season, the words of all carols cannot fail to resonate with people of faith and none, as the oldest of stories is retold through music, from the gentle tones of Away In A Manger to Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, each tracing significant moments of the journey leading up to the birth of Jesus in the stable of an inn.

Whatever your circumstances, may the power of the birth of the Bethlehem babe bring peace and hope to all during this season. ¤

Lynne McNeil Editor

The Life and Work team would like to wish all readers and contributors a blessed Christmas and a peaceful new year.