Most of you already have your Christmas song sets and resources put together but a friend of mine recently said, “Christmas music is like wrapping paper, you buy it the year before and then look back at it the next year to see what you’ve got”. So here’s my list of favorite finds for this Christmas season and if you haven’t finalized your plans hopefully you can grab a couple of these.
For King & Country– Angels We Have Heard On High and Little Drummer Boy: This album caught me by surprise this Christmas but I’m glad I came across it. If you’re looking for some epic percussion heavy arrangements go no further.
Tim Timmons– O Little Town of Bethlehem: Let’s face it, there are a billion arrangements of silent night and other favorites but there are precious few good arrangements of this hymn. I came across it on a compilation CD and loved it from the beginning. The original chorus is really well done and enhances the song even more than the cool loops and drum work.
Tim Tibbles– Joy To The World: Tim is the new worship minister at Pantego Bible Church in TX and I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with him and getting to know him a little better. I saw that his church had recently put out a Christmas album and I went ahead and purchased it without listening to it. Later as I was driving the album came on from my playlist and I instantly had to check to see who it was. If you’re like me you’ve been doing Tomlin’s Joy Unspeakable and are tired of it. This arrangement breathes some much needed freshness and will help your congregation reengage like they did when you first introduced it.
Robbie Seay– Come Thou Long Expected Jesus: I’m a huge fan of keeping hymnody fresh and in the mouths of my congregation so when I heard him sing Come Thou Long Expected Jesus to the tune of Come Thou Fount I geeked out. This is a great way to do another great but relatively obscure Christmas hymn and get people engaged immediately without having to learn a new song and that is priceless. Plus Robbie’s soulful gravel in his voice gives it just the right amount of longing emotion due to the lyrics.
Matt Maher– Holy, Holy, Holy (God With Us): Another find in the well known hymnody Christmas crossover is Matt Maher’s version of the hymn Holy Holy Holy. The theological ramifications of taking the trinity and the preexistant Godhead and marrying it with an original chorus that talks about the incarnation in addition to redemption at the cross is a winner in my book.
Josh Wilson– Angels We Have Heard on High and O Come O Come Emmanuel: Most Christmas albums that are acoustically driven tend to fail at delivering the punch I like but these arrangements have a clean and strong groove. If you’re looking for some songs that have additional acoustic instrumentation like dulcimers and baritone electric guitars this is for you.
Austin Stone– Whole Album (Hallelujah, What A Savior): I’ve just recently begun paying attention to Aaron Ivey and the Austin Stone Church but this is easily becoming one of my favorite albums. There are very few newer Christmas songs that I feel like will stand the test of time but in particular their song Hallelujah, What A Savior is beautiful and theologically rich. It is an adaptation of the old hymn by the same name. Check it out and you won’t be sorry. It may have to be a special at first but I can see this becoming a tradition.
Citizens– Whole Album (Come and Stand Amazed): We’ve starting doing more and more of the Mars Hill Music crew like Citizens version of Amazing Grace and Kings Kaleidoscope’s version of Come Thou Fount and Dustin Kensrue’s Rejoice. Their sound is refreshing and different and this album is no different. Maybe it’s because there’s so many versions of most Christmas hymns that I’m being drawn to either revamped obscure hymns or relatively new hymns but Come and Stand Amazed is another song that is stuck in repeat and will make the cut next year. Lyrically it beautifully reveals some of the most profound truths of the incarnation like “see the mighty weak and tender, see the word now mute”.
Parishanglican.org– If you’re like me the Christmas season is really busy and it’s over before we know it and for those of us responsible for leading others in worship during this time we rarely get the time to absorb the magnitude of what we’re celebrating. Enter Eddie Kirkland and the Advent Project 2013. It is a way of celebrating advent with prayers and devotions and scripture readings.
Worshiphousemedia.com– Mary Did you Know: What happens when you fuse well done spoken word and heavy rock with a familiar song? Awesomeness. I recently tracked this song with a click track and cut the parts of the video where the singing happened and had our band play live and one of my female worship leaders sing the lead. It was a great way to bring the art of spoken word to our congregation in a way that is done well and it made a great impact.
Bonus: Kings Kaleidoscope– All Glory Be To Christ: When it comes to leading worship for the last Sunday of the year it can be tricky but leave it to Mars Hill once again to have someone write a powerful worship song based on the tune of Auld Lang Syne. I’ve never been excited about that tune until this song and it helps that it’s so well known. Instant new worship song/hymn with zero learning time for the congregation. Winning!
What are your favorites for this Christmas?
Merry Christmas Everybody!
Worship Leader Laboratory 