Pathways Press.com

Written by Joan Osborne from The Village Church

Many decades ago, at Christmastime, my elementary school choir sang carols at a local shopping center. Whenever Angels We Have Heard on High was the next selection, I got excited, knowing the beautiful musical runs that were coming as we sang “gloria in excelsis deo” even though I barely knew what those words meant. It didn’t matter. As a child, the music alone transported me. I felt joy. I felt the grandeur of the scene. I felt the angels, singing over the plains. I felt the mountains replying. I felt the praise to God in the highest. I didn’t really understand themagnitude of the moment, but I knew its joy. The music carried me there. It was a moment experienced by its sound. Years later I began to study the lyrics. When I understood the words of praise to God for bringing our Savior into the world and the response of everything in heaven and on earth that rejoiced at His coming, I appreciated my favorite carol anew. Grab your hymnal, read all four verses, and let the music play in your head. Imagine the heart of the Frenchman who put the two together. And then thank God for the treasure of Jesus–and for the music. Or for a full experience, click the link below.

Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o’er the plains, and the mountains in reply echoing their joyous strains. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Gloria in excelsis Deo.