A Christmas Hymn (To the Tune of "Come Thou Fount") by Rend Collective

God uses lyrics and melody to pierce the noise of life and write truth on my heart, even though I know the Scriptures. Does he do the same for you? Such is the case when I sing this new Christmas hymn.

The tune of this song is highly recognizable: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." Like many hymns, the music is composed by someone other than the lyricist. That is the case with Come Thou Fount, and the tradition continues with "A Christmas Hymn." The original American folk tune we know as "Come Thou Fount" is attributed to Nettleton, whom many believe composed the melody in the early 1800s, roughly 55 years after Rev. Robert Robinson published the lyrics in 1758. The tradition of folk tunes becoming hymns continues.

Chris Llewellyn of Rend Collective revealed the inspiration behind the hymn in an Instagram post. In the Irish Christmas Tradition, congregations gather at 11 pm on Christmas Eve to celebrate the Advent of Christ's birth in a cozy, traditional environment, and then walk to the pub next door at midnight to celebrate Christmas together. It's a blend of traditional worship and celebratory cheer, a mix of the old with the new. This mix of old and new is what became the inspiration to write a new Christmas hymn. And what God placed on their hearts to write is beautiful!

Come now see the Lord of Heaven

In a lowly manger laid

King deserving of a throne room

Born a poor powerless babe

Oh the mystery oh the wonder

Somehow God is one of us

Such is greatness in His kingdom

He descended to our dust

 

"Somehow God is one of us. Such is greatness in His kingdom, He descended to our dust." These words stopped me in my tracks when I heard them. The Apostle John begins his gospel with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) But, a little further down, he writes, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." (John 1:14) Even as Jesus breathed his first human breath, he was in a dying world. Genesis 3:19 says, "...for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." 

 

Christ the Word holy expression

of the humbleness of God

Herald of a prideless kingdom

one of sacrificial love

Mighty One who made the heavens

Knelt to wash his brother's feet.

And the earth that He created

He bestowed unto the meek.

 

The first verse of the hymn takes us into the mystery and wonder of Christ's birth. The second verse introduces us to God's humbleness. "Mighty One who made the heavens knelt to wash his brother's feet." This line recalls the words of David, "What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4). 

 

King of glory became nothing

humbled to the point of death

Stretched His arms out like a beggar

and forgave with His last breath

What God started with a manger

ended with an empty grave

Suffering servant now exalted

Jesus name above all names

 

The third verse brings us to the Work of the Cross. "What God started with a manger ended with an empty grave." Isaiah writes, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:3-5)

 

Light eternal in the darkness

He shall not be overcome

Shining over all our shadows

Every curse has been undone

Heaven breaks forth like the springtime

Through the winter of our souls

Now His life is life abundant

is forever ours to know

 

"Heaven breaks forth like the springtime through the winter of our souls." John writes, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5) Without Christ, our souls are dark and lifeless. I remember our time in Seattle, where winters are five seemingly endless months of the dark, damp gloominess of persistently overcast skies. The turn of spring begins with the piercing sun through the thick layer of clouds, just as Jesus’s victory over the grave pierces the darkness of our souls. “Now His life is life abundant, is forever ours to know.” The darkness cannot overcome the light. And so shall we sing, praise, rejoice, and savor the love, mercy, and grace of our Lord.

 

Come now church let us adore Him

tune your heart to sing His grace

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise

Teach me some melodious sonnet

Sung by flaming tongues above

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

Mount of God's redeeming love

Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it

Mount of God's redeeming love.