Hymns are beautiful truths poetically told, hung on a rhythm, and held in a melody. This makes them memorable. Hymn study is extremely simple. Sing the hymn once a day. We’ve provided you links to different versions to enjoy as well as a link to download the sheet music for the hymn. Some of this year’s selections are familiar, and others are a little more obscure. This month, we are learning Joy to the World.
Text in English:
1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
let ev’ry heart prepare him room
and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.
2 Joy to the earth, the Savior 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.
3 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.
4 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.
Source: Christian Worship (2021): Hymnal #353
Hymn Story:
While Joy to the World is typically attributed to Isaac Watts, several people helped form his original into the hymn we sing today. The song draws inspiration from Psalm 98. Americans stole phrases of melody from George Frederic Handel’s Messiah to make up the tune we now sling. Lowell Mason then took that smash-up and refined it into a tune known as ANTIOCH. Mason’s tune is a fuging tune, one in which “voice parts enter one after another in rapid succession, usually repeating the same words.”
Source: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-joy-to-the-world
