Dec 13 Joy to the World

Dec 13 Joy to the World
http://musiced.about.com/od/christmasnewyeararticles/qt/joytotheworld.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_to_the_World
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Watts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_Mason

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Isaac Watts was a prolific hymn writer who wrote more than 750 hymns, many of which are still sung today. One of his life projects was that of creating a volume of hymns based on the Psalms of David, in which he tied New Testament stories into the Old Testament words. One of the hymns which was included in this volume was “Joy to the World,” which he based on Psalm 98 and into which he read back the joy of the coming of the Messiah.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth:
Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise….
Make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
Let the floods clap their hands,
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,
For he cometh to judge the earth,
With righteousness shall he judge the world. Psalm 98:4-6, 8-9

Watts’ hymns were not well received while he was alive, because Christians of the day believed that God stopped singing when King David died, and that new hymn settings of any of the Psalms were heresy of the worst sort. Thankfully, his hymns survived for us to use and enjoy today.

The origin of the tune to which we sing “Joy to the World” has been attributed to George Frederick Handel and was thought to be an excerpt from his composition, The Messiah. Most likely, however, it was composed by Lowell Mason, who has been called “the father of American church music.” Mason was the first music teacher in an American public school, and also co-founded the Boston Academy of Music. He greatly admired Handel, whose influence can be heard in the tune of “Joy to the World,” as well as others of Mason’s 1600 religious compositions.

Craft: world, crown, heart, scale of justice, JOY word art
Shrinky-dink JOY