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Dec 25, 2025: Episode 26: Christmas 2025 ''
Dec 24, 2025: Episode 25: Advent of Carols 25 - Joy to the World ''
Dec 23, 2025: Episode 24: Advent of Carols 24 - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear ''
Dec 22, 2025: Episode 23: Advent of Carols 23 - God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen ''
Dec 21, 2025: Episode 22: Advent of Carols 22 - Go Tell It On the Mountain ''
Dec 20, 2025: Episode 21: Advent of Carols 21 - Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer / Do You Hear What I Hear? Two Christmas songs for children that make us ask how we respond to Christmas: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (yes, really) and …
Dec 19, 2025: Episode 20: Advent of Carols 20 - O Come, All Ye Faithful A carol that, rather than telling the Christmas story, invites us into it, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is an Advent pilgrimage. Listen to …
Dec 18, 2025: Episode 19: Advent of Carols 19 - We Three Kings An Epiphany carol that gets two-thirds of its own title wrong, “We Three Kings” is nonetheless a mainstay of Christmas music and invites …
Dec 17, 2025: Episode 18: Advent of Carols 18 - The First Noel “The First Noël” speed-runs two different gospels, adds some confused astronomy, cultural imperialism, and some how finishes with …
Dec 16, 2025: Episode 17: Advent of Carols 17 - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing A Christmas carol that forces us to care about punctuation, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” tells us the story of all of history, gives a …
Dec 15, 2025: Episode 16: Advent of Carols 16 - Good Christian Friends, Rejoice! / He Is Born / Sing We Now of Christmas Three Christmas carols about singing Christmas carols: “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice!”, “He Is Born”, and “Sing We …
Dec 14, 2025: Episode 15: Advent of Carols 15 - Angels We Have Heard On High / Angels From the Realms of Glory A Christmas carol double-header starring angels… many, many angels: “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “Angels From the …
Dec 13, 2025: Episode 14: Advent of Carols 14 - All I Want For Christmas Is You / Last Christmas / Santa Baby Three pop Christmas classics—Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” and Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby”—become a …
Dec 12, 2025: Episode 13: Advent of Carols 13 - What Child Is This? A hymn that asks big questions and then helpfully answers them right in the text, “What Child Is This?” declares that this child is …
Dec 11, 2025: Episode 12: Advent of Carols 12 - O Holy Night A straightforward poem that turned into a French revolutionary anthem, “O Holy Night” is one of the greatest vocal showcases of Advent …
Dec 10, 2025: Episode 11: Advent of Carols 11 - Silent Night We visit “Silent Night”, the candlelit hymn usually reserved for Christmas Eve, and sit with its quiet picture of Bethlehem’s …
Dec 9, 2025: Episode 10: Advent of Carols 10 - Away In A Manger / Infant Holy, Infant Lowly We turn to two almost-lullabies—“Away in a Manger” and “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”—simple cradle songs whose easy words and …
Dec 8, 2025: Episode 9: Advent of Carols 9 - O Little Town of Bethlehem The Christmas carol version of Micah 5:2, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” puts us in the fields with the shepherds to see the movement of …
Dec 7, 2025: Episode 8: Advent of Carols 8 - Mary, Did You Know? Originally written for a single church’s Christmas play, “Mary, Did You Know?” is one of the most-covered modern Christmas songs …
Dec 6, 2025: Episode 7: Advent of Carols 7 - Hallelujah and Happy XMas (War Is Over) Not every Christmas song is Christian—or even very Christmas. Today we look at two popular December tunes that don’t fit the season: Leonard …
Dec 5, 2025: Episode 6: Advent of Carols 6 - Coventry Carol “Coventry Carol” is easily the saddest song in the Advent canon. The reason we sing it today is even sadder still. But it’s one of …
Dec 4, 2025: Episode 5: Advent of Carols 5 - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day An American Civil War poem dressed up as a Christmas carol, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is …
Dec 3, 2025: Episode 4: Advent of Carols 4 - In the Bleak Midwinter A simplistic poem by a little-known author, set to music by none other than Gustav Holst. “In the Bleak Midwinter” teaches us to look for …
Dec 2, 2025: Episode 3: Advent of Carols 3 - Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming A tune without a time signature, an unsingable poem, and a name for Jesus—Rose—not found in the Bible. Somehow, the hauntingly beautiful “Lo, …
Dec 1, 2025: Episode 2: Advent of Carols 2 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel An eighth-century German prayer set to a fifteenth-century French tune, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is perhaps the most Advent-y of all …
Nov 30, 2025: Episode 1: Advent of Carols 1 - Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus We kick off Advent with Charles Wesley’s Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus—a hymn that compresses the whole theology of Advent into a handful of lines: …
Nov 20, 2025: Episode 0: Advent of Carols Introduction Series notes Join VerseNotes Commons to make sure this series and everything we do stays free and ad-free forever. Subscribe to the podcast here …