It is a well known fact in these parts that I love music. I love singing beautiful music. When Justin Beiber’s movie came out nearly a decade ago, I was the first to run to the screen at the end of the movie to lead the groupies in song, as we danced and sang through the credits. What a night that was! While his music might not classify as beautiful, it did move me to song.

St. Augustine of Hippo is widely misquoted as having said, “To sing is to pray twice.” I disagree completely, as I’m sure would St. Augustine if he could answer for himself today. Song is not prayer amplified. It is an entirely different medium with which we express our affection and faith in God. Singing is not superior to prayer. Augustine’s most positive thought on singing -- Cantare, amantis est (translation: “singing belongs to one who loves” or “only the lover sings”) -- is an accurate thought on singing and does not subjugate prayer to song. Either way, there is an appropriate time for prayer and for singing in the pilgrim’s progress to his or her consummation with God.

One of the most memory-inducing aspects of Christmas is the music that surrounds it. Sure, the presents, decorations, and foods of Christmas are all each important in their own right. For me, though, the songs of Christmas give the season a body all its own and lift me to a plane that the visual, gustatory, and olfactory, senses important altogether, cannot. From Christmas movies with beautiful music to caroling with groups to caroling on my own while collecting alms for the homeless to lifting high my voice in the house of God, I love this music. My heart becomes tender and open to the love that is offered through this beautiful auditory pleasure.

I have received numerous requests, both on the boards and through email, for a Christmas song list. Most have hoped that I would post this before Thanksgiving so that it is available for their Thanksgiving Day or Black Friday decorating. Unlike most Top 10 lists, I am enthusiastically encouraging you to make your own top ten list and critique mine. Without further ado, here are TulaneLSU’s Top 10 Holy Advent and Christmas Songs:

10. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
The first of Charles Wesley’s hymns to make the Top 10 list, when set to Hyfrydol as included in the above link, it puts a charge in my heart and a lift in my step. Published first in 1744, it can be used as both an Advent and an apocalyptic hymn, as we await the coming of our triumphant Lord.

9. O Come All Ye Faithful
The authorship of this triumphant hymn, initially named Adeste Fideles is uncertain, but the oldest extant manuscript comes from English hymnist, John Francis Wade in 1751. Some have even claimed St. Bonaventure wrote this piece half a millennium earlier. During services, when it begins, I am naturally drawn toward the altar. Even if I am the only one standing up front, I am not ashamed to stand before the congregation and sing praise to my Lord.

8. O Little Town of Bethlehem
Bostonian Episcopal priest, Phillips Brooks, wrote this touching hymn in 1868, three years after he visited the town of Bethlehem. I like to hold hands with whomever is next to me when signing it.

7. Away In A Manger
Attributed to Martin Luther, its origin is much more likely American by an anonymous writer. The first appearance of its words show up in the anti-Mason publication Christian Cynosure in 1882. The Irish-Protestant immigrant to America, William J. Kirkpatrick, set the song to the ever familiar tune you know in 1895. What a sweet song for children to sing.

6. In the Bleak Midwinter
Catherine Rossetti, in 1872, published in Scribner’s this poem. It didn’t enter the hymnary until 1906 when it was set to music by Gustav Holst. While there are several tunes to which this song is arranged, I much prefer the deliberate, building tune of Cranham by Holst. The #1 Christmas item at Hallmark, as found in TulaneLSU's Top 10 Hallmark Decorations, reminded me of this hymn.

5. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Nothing gets Advent going like this solemn and mighty hymn. For some reason, I attributed it to Martin Luther, but the actual translator was John Mason Neale, in 1861. The origins go back to the 15th century in Cologne, but the history is quite nebulous. It feels almost like a Gregorian chant to me at times. If your church’s first Sunday in Advent service doesn’t open with this hymn, consider a transfer. Nothing sets the appropriate, anticipatory, yet somber mood of the season of Advent, as we, captive Israel, mourning in lonely exile, waiting ransom, wait for the day of ransoming, when we shall be set free.

4. Hark! The Herald Angel Sings
The British have given us the bulk of our great Christmas hymans, and Hark! is no exception. Written by Charles Wesley of Methodist fame in 1739, the music with which you most likely associate it is actually a secular tune from Mendlelsson’s Festgesang.

3. Joy to the World!
English composer par excellence Isaac Watts wrote this glorious and triumphant hymn in 1719, the same year the first African slaves arrived in New Orleans at Algiers Point. It is based on Psalms 96 and 98, as well as Genesis 3:17-18. The loudest I ever sing a hymn is when this one or Thine Be the Glory is piped out the organ. He does indeed rule the world with truth and grace.

2. Silent Night
Last year this humble, slow moving hymn celebrated its 200th birthday. Whenever I get groups together to go Christmas caroling, we sing this wonderful song at least three times, often with our sheet music illuminated by small lit candles. Father Joseph Mohr initially wrote the lyrics two years before he asked his congregant, Franz Xaver Gruber, to compose the music in Salzburg, Austria. John Freeman Young, an Episcopalian priest in NYC, translated it in the mid-1800s, and it quickly became a hit in American churches.

1. Oh, Holy Night
This stirring song brings tears to my eyes and my body prostrate in prayer when it is sung well. French composer Adolphe Adam in 1847. Cantique de Noel is based on a poem named Midnight, Christmas, by French poet Placide Cappeau.

This post was edited on 11/25/19 at 8:23 pm