'Tis the Tenth to Christmas

           It was only a year and a half or so ago, when I and several friends climbed to the top of a mountain plateau and belted out songs from The Sound of Music at the top of our lungs. It was a beautiful sight looking down on a beautiful tree-filled valley which sprawled out beneath us. There was another plateau across from us a little higher, from which people who were standing there at the time of our singing could reportedly hear us. It was quite a revelation for my friends and I, as we realized that we were standing in God's theater, a place designed with better acoustics than some concert halls.

          Looking back I wish it had occurred to us to sing another song. It would have been the perfect setting for us to sing "O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion," from Handel's Messiah.

   "Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God."" ~ Isaiah 40:9

        Because what better place to proclaim God's presence, power, and love then from the top of a mountain?

        And what better time than Christmas to proclaim the good news of God coming to us, to proclaim that God is with us?

        There was another song which I didn't know at the time. A song which I'm so thankful has made it's way into the Christmas Repertoire because it's so easy to get caught up with the little baby in the manger that we forget all that He is and all He came to do.

    This song, Climb to The Top of The Highest Mountain written by Carolyn Jennings is, like Handel's aforementioned aria, a direct adaption from verses in Isaiah 40. I love this work because it so beautifully encapsulates and expresses the awe we should feel in the presence of God's power. And I'm going to leave it there. As you listen to this beautiful choral work, think about God's power. Wonder for a few minutes on the magnitude of a love which would compel such a magnificent God to come down to save such insignificant creatures as we are.

       
   I'm including the lyrics below the video, make sure that you read them while the song is playing. It's important to know what they're singing, and it's hard to catch all the words if you don't know them already. ;)




     What a great God we serve, friends, don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that someday we will reign with Him as He rules the world. Today, let your joy and confidence in a God who made the stars in the heavens and fashioned the earth and sea, shine out and capture the hearts of those who have no such assurance. And through your life, don't ever let anyone make you ashamed of One who will come in power and glory and rule with mercy and truth!


     ~ Christianna