My introduction to Bob Marley came during my freshman year in high school. I had heard songs like “No Woman, No Cry” and “Three Little Birds” on the radio, but I had never really dug into his music. Like most people, that introduction was through the Legend album. I soon found myself singing along to each song, taking in the lyrics and reading up on his life. At the time I didn’t always know why, but his music moved me in ways few others could do.
I have an ache that Advil can’t help.
This pain doesn’t reside in a muscle;
It sits in the background of my soul.
When you read the lyrics to the song “Joy to the World” you cannot help but start humming along. Joy To the World is one of the most recognizable Christmas songs of all time, but it actually wasn’t written to be a Christmas song at all. If Christmas is about Jesus’ first advent, Joy to the World is really about Jesus’ second advent. As the old saying goes, ‘if the shoe fits, wear it,’ and Joy to the World wears the Christmas shoe quite well.
There is something significant about singing hymns at Christmas time. For a moment in time, you commune with Christians of all centuries, backgrounds, and countries to worship Jesus and celebrate His birth. In each hymn lies an origin, a story, an author (or several) that is telling of where the hymn came from and for whom it was written.