VerseNotes Out Loud

Episode 26: Christmas 2025

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

For Christmas Day, instead of a new reflection, I want to read you something I wrote ten years ago. It’s a story about waiting—about how long God’s promises can feel, and how thin hope can wear.

Episode 25: Advent of Carols 25 - Joy to the World

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

A Christmas carol that starts like a cannon blast, “Joy to the World” releases all the build-up from Advent into an overwhelming chorus of joy.

Listen to the Carol

BYU Combined Choirs and BYU Philharmonic - Joy to the World
Mariah Carey - Joy to the World
Soundiva Classical Choir - Joy to the World (a cappella)
Mannheim Steamroller - Joy to the World (instrumental)

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Episode 24: Advent of Carols 24 - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

A song that brings Advent anticipation into the present day, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” refuses to rush us to Christmas morning.

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Episode 23: Advent of Carols 23 - God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

The second Christmas carol to make us care about punctuation, “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen” is not about cheerful festivity but about eternal freedom from fear.

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Episode 22: Advent of Carols 22 - Go Tell It On the Mountain

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

“Go Tell It On the Mountain” brings the Great Commission right into the manger scene.

Listen to the Carol

Dolly Parton - Go Tell It On the Mountain (verses 1 & 2)
Francesca Battistelli - Go Tell It On the Mountain (verse 1 & 3)

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Episode 21: Advent of Carols 21 - Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer / Do You Hear What I Hear?

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

Two Christmas songs for children that make us ask how we respond to Christmas: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (yes, really) and “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

Listen to the Songs

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Episode 20: Advent of Carols 20 - O Come, All Ye Faithful

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

A carol that, rather than telling the Christmas story, invites us into it, “O Come, All Ye Faithful” is an Advent pilgrimage.

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Episode 19: Advent of Carols 19 - We Three Kings

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

An Epiphany carol that gets two-thirds of its own title wrong, “We Three Kings” is nonetheless a mainstay of Christmas music and invites us to explore where our own ideas of Christmas come from.

Listen to the Carol

We Are Messengers - We Three Kings

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Episode 18: Advent of Carols 18 - The First Noel

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

“The First Noël” speed-runs two different gospels, adds some confused astronomy, cultural imperialism, and some how finishes with Revelation, Creation, and the cross, all in one breath.

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Episode 17: Advent of Carols 17 - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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 summary of the incarnation, summarizes an intense theology lesson, and presents the entire gospel all in one.

Listen to the Carol

Wheaton College Choirs and Symphony Orchestra - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Arr. Willcocks)

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Episode 16: Advent of Carols 16 - Good Christian Friends, Rejoice! / He Is Born / Sing We Now of Christmas

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

Three Christmas carols about singing Christmas carols: “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice!”, “He Is Born”, and “Sing We Now of Christmas”.

Listen to the Songs

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Episode 15: Advent of Carols 15 - Angels We Have Heard On High / Angels From the Realms of Glory

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

A Christmas carol double-header starring angels… many, many angels: “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “Angels From the Realms of Glory”.

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Episode 14: Advent of Carols 14 - All I Want For Christmas Is You / Last Christmas / Santa Baby

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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 surprisingly clear window into three Christmas postures: longing, heartbreak, and greed.

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Episode 13: Advent of Carols 13 - What Child Is This?

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

A hymn that asks big questions and then helpfully answers them right in the text, “What Child Is This?” declares that this child is indeed Christ the King, even if it is set to Greensleeves.

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Episode 12: Advent of Carols 12 - O Holy Night

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

A straightforward poem that turned into a French revolutionary anthem, “O Holy Night” is one of the greatest vocal showcases of Advent and also a rich, biblical, bold hymn.

Listen to the Carol

King’s College Choir - O Holy Night (all verses)
Chris Tomlin with CeCe Williams - O Holy Night (verses 1 and 3 only)
Mariah Carey - O Holy Night (verse 1 only)

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Episode 11: Advent of Carols 11 - Silent Night

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

We visit “Silent Night”, the candlelit hymn usually reserved for Christmas Eve, and sit with its quiet picture of Bethlehem’s night—stars, shepherds, and the holy child—letting it invite us right into the story.

Listen to the Carol

Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Silent Night

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Episode 10: Advent of Carols 10 - Away In A Manger / Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

We turn to two almost-lullabies—“Away in a Manger” and “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly”—simple cradle songs whose easy words and gentle melodies draw us into the humble, lowly nearness of God in a manger.

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Episode 9: Advent of Carols 9 - O Little Town of Bethlehem

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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 God not just in history but in us.

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Episode 8: Advent of Carols 8 - Mary, Did You Know?

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

Originally written for a single church’s Christmas play, “Mary, Did You Know?” is one of the most-covered modern Christmas songs and one of the most deeply Scriptural.

Listen to the Carol

Pentatonix - Mary, Did You Know?

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Episode 7: Advent of Carols 7 - Hallelujah and Happy XMas (War Is Over)

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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 Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and “Happy XMas (War Is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

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Episode 6: Advent of Carols 6 - Coventry Carol

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

“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 the prettiest, and it reminds us what we’re waiting for.

Listen to the Carol

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Episode 5: Advent of Carols 5 - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

An American Civil War poem dressed up as a Christmas carol, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is nothing like you think.

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Episode 4: Advent of Carols 4 - In the Bleak Midwinter

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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 Advent theology in even the most basic carols.

Listen to the Carol

Tenebrae Choir - In the Bleak Midwinter

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Episode 3: Advent of Carols 3 - Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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, How A Rose E’er Blooming” has become a Christmas mainstay.

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Sting - Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming

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Episode 2: Advent of Carols 2 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 -0700

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 Advent hymns with its seven names of Jesus.

Listen to the Hymn

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Episode 1: Advent of Carols 1 - Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 02:02:58 -0700

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: longing, liberation, rest, and the reign of the King.

Listen to the Hymn

Celtic Worship – “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”

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Scripture in This Episode

Genesis 3:15
Deuteronomy 18:15
Hebrews 2:14–15
Hebrews 4:8–11
Matthew 11:28–30
Luke 2:25–32
Isaiah 9:6–7
Ephesians 2:4–6
Revelation 4

Episode 0: Advent of Carols Introduction

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:11:00 -0700

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