Once again, we find ourselves in the joy of singing the beloved Christmas and Advent hymns during worship. I also find myself grinning in child-like humor as I chuckle as we sometimes struggle to properly pronounce some of the words in those hymns. We struggle because some of those words are either in French or Latin. One hymn is obvious as the French word is in the title of “The First Noel.” The second hymn, the Latin words are not so obvious in the hymn as they are reserved for the “refrain.” Let’s take a look at the “easy” one entitled “The First Noel” as the song tells the story of the announcement of the birth of Jesus through the Angelic announcement and the prominence of the brilliance of the Bethlehem star. The word “Noel” is French and translates into the English word “Christmas.” The word can also mean “good news” or used as our word “birthday.” The beloved hymn’s “refrain” could literally be saying “Good news! It’s Christmas! Good news! It’s the birthday of a King! Bor
Clever, Missouri (Christian County)