The Christmas season is often a time for nostalgia and looking back to our past holiday experiences. Some are wonderful to remember. Some can be painful. Can we remember the future as well as the past at Christmas time?
As we remember the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ just over 2000 years ago, we find that old Christmas carols point us forward in time to the return of Christ. In our memories of Christmas past, we have memories of a future time.
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Episode 89 features the reading of the lyrics to two ancient Christmas hymns as well as the texts of two ancient Christmas sermons. The hymns are Verbum Supernum Prodiens (Word Proceeding From On High), dating back to the 6th-7th centuries as well as “The Lord At First Did Adam Make”, found in a compilation of Christmas hymns printed in London in 1823. Of the two sermons, one is a Christmas sermon by Saint Isaac of Nineveh from the 7th century. The other was preached by Saint John Chrysostom in 386 AD, making it one of the oldest known Christmas sermons in the church.