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"Gelobet Seist Du, Jesu Christ" |
This is a classical piece I found
from a CD produced in Germany,
with German jacket notes. The name
Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630),
is on the credits for this composition,
so I'm assuming he's the composer on this
piece, a version of the Kyrie Eleison
(Lord Have Mercy on Us),
from the Catholic Latin Mass.
Anyway, it's on a Christmas CD of
classical music by German composers
over the centuries, with the title simply
"Merry Christmas!" - but spelled out
in German, English, and French.
It came out in '93 on the Hannsler-Verlag label.
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Joseph did not become reconciled to
the idea that Mary was to become the mother of an
extraordinary child until after he had experienced a
very impressive dream. In this dream a brilliant
celestial messenger appeared to him and, among
other things, said: "Joseph, I appear by command of
Him who now reigns on high, and I am directed to
instruct you concerning the son whom Mary shall bear,
and who shall become a great light in the world.
In him will be life, and his life shall become
the light of mankind.
He shall first come to his own people, but they
will hardly receive him; but to as many as shall
receive him to them will he reveal that they
are the children of God."
After this experience Joseph never again wholly
doubted Mary's story of Gabriel's visit and of the
promise that the unborn child was to become
a divine messenger to the world.
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In all these visitations nothing was said about
the house of David. Nothing was ever intimated about
Jesus' becoming a "deliverer of the Jews,"
not even that he was to be the long-expected Messiah.
Jesus was not such a Messiah as the Jews had
anticipated, but he was the world's deliverer.
His mission was to all races and peoples,
not to any one group.
Joseph was not of the line of King David.
Mary had more of the Davidic ancestry than Joseph.
True, Joseph did go to the City of David, Bethlehem,
to be registered for the Roman census, but that
was because, six generations previously, Joseph's
paternal ancestor of that generation, being an orphan,
was adopted by one Zadoc, who was a direct descendant
of David; hence was Joseph also accounted as of
the "house of David."
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Most of the so-called Messianic prophecies of
the Old Testament were made to apply to Jesus
long after his life had been lived on earth.
For centuries the Hebrew prophets had proclaimed
the coming of a deliverer, and these promises had been
construed by successive generations as a referring to a
new Jewish ruler who would sit upon the throne of David and,
by the reputed miraculous methods of Moses, proceed
to establish the Jews in Palestine as a powerful nation,
free from all foreign domination. Again, many figurative
passages found throughout the Hebrew scriptures
were subsequently misapplied to the life mission of Jesus.
Many Old Testament sayings were so distorted as to
appear to fit some episode of the Master's earth life.
Jesus himself onetime publicly denied any
connection with the royal house of David.
Even the passage, "a maiden shall bear a son,"
was made to read, "a virgin shall bear a son."
This was also true of the many genealogies of both
Joseph and Mary which were constructed subsequent
to Michael's [Christ's] career on earth.
Many of these lineages contain much of the
Master's ancestry, but on the whole they are not genuine
and may not be depended upon as factual. The early
followers of Jesus all too often succumbed to the
temptation to make all the olden prophetic utterances
appear to find fulfillment in the life of
their Lord and Master.
The Urantia Book
Part IV, 122, 4
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This almost sounds like it's from a Broadway show soundtrack.
The singer is Martha Taylor Lacroix, and the CD is
The Reason (Seasoned For Christmas),
which came out this year on her own label.
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This song was first sung in "mystery plays"
in Germany in the 16th century. The Fireside Singers perform here,
from their '07 CD on the Artwork Media label -
Sing Along! Classic Christmas Songs From the Fireside.
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This is from a beautiful album in Gaelic.
Singers are the Benedictine Monks of Glenstal Abbey, with
Noirin Ni Riain, a female soloist. The CD is appropriately titled
Mystical Ireland, and it came out in 2003 on the Sounds True label.
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This selection is unusual, not just in its sound,
but in the history of the language. More on that below.
It's from a CD titled Qambel Maran - Syriac Chants From South India,
performed by the Syriac Choirs of St. John's and St. Mary's Church.
It came out in 2002 on PAN Records.
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken
across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared around the 1st century C.E.,
Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from
the 4th to the 8th centuries, the classical language of Edessa,
preserved in a large body of Syriac literature.
It became the vehicle of Syriac Orthodox Christianity and culture,
spreading throughout Asia as far as the Indian Malabar coast and Eastern China
and was the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for Arabs and,
to a lesser extent, Persians. Primarily a Christian medium of expression,
Syriac had a fundamental cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic
which replaced it towards the end of the 8th century.
Syriac remains the liturgical language of Syriac Christianity.
From Wikipedia
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