Christmas Playlist #1

Plato once said that if you want to change the laws of a state, you first change its music. Every December, our culture instinctively changes its playlist. From Mariah Carey to Bing Crosby, we fill the airwaves with songs that—whether they realize it or not—reveal a deep hunger for the Incarnation. In this first episode of our new series, Christmas Playlist, we look at a carol written in 1849, a year defined by war, political tension, and the frantic gold rush. In the midst of that chaos, Edmund Sears wrote "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear." It is a hymn that challenges us to do the one thing the holidays often make impossible: "Hush the noise." Are you shouting over the stress of the season, or are you quiet enough to hear the angels sing?