in excelsis Deo

During this Christmas season we sing we have been singing some of the traditional Christmas songs, and I am always moved to tears as we sing and reflect upon the birth of Jesus. 

I love birth stories… hearing others, telling my own… each and everyone of the birth of our 8 children has a story…
      

a story of love, a love at first sight kind of story, a love that goes beyond all words…
                                  a story of hope as each child was held for the first time…
                                         a story with a new song of it’s own…

the angels sang a song at His birth… at the birth of Jesus:

Angels we have on heard high
Sweetly singing ore the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains

Their song was…
Gloria in excelsis Deo  - Glory to God in the Highest…


I reflect upon the words of my favorite Christmas song:


 
In the city on the hill
Hear the bells chime
Peace on earth good will
Its Christmas time
Glad tidings we will bring
of Christ the new born king
And with the angels sing at Christmas time    
Its Christmas time
Glo...ho...ho...oo..ria
In exelcis Deo...

As I have been singing these songs, I have been reflecting upon what it means to sing Gloria in ecelsis Deo…. to sing Glory to God in the Highest…

   to sing this song of praise… this song that the angels sing…
         this song of new birth … the celebration of the birth of Christ
              this song that brings glad tidings…   good new  
                     this song that brings good will and peace…

What it means to be a city on a hill that sings Glory to God in the Highest.
            Jesus taught us with His own words:

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

He calls our lives to be a song of praise… our deeds - our actions to shine forth and be a reflection of our heavenly Father.

      He calls it to be “Christmas time” in our hearts…
                              celebrate life… new birth…
                                              everyday… everywhere…

                                  to reflect “Christmas time all year round…

Be have been studying Bach for our Music Appreciation and I leave you with his rendition of Gloria in excelsis Deo… the celebration of Christ birth.

Gloria in excelsis Deo was written in Leipzig for Christmas Day, as indicated by the heading on the manuscript in Bach's own handwriting, "J.J. Festo Nativit: Xsti." (Jesu Juva Festo Nativitatis Christi - Celebration for the birth of Christ), to be sung around the sermon. Recent archival and manuscript evidence suggest the cantata was first performed not in 1743, but in 1745 at a special Christmas Day service to celebrate the Peace of Dresden, which brought to an end the hardships imposed on the region by the Second Silesian War.

~ yearning to live a life of Christmas Time