Come and Worship Christ the New Born King!
It can be so easy to lose sight of the purpose of Christmas. In between the family gatherings, Christmas gifts and gingerbread houses lies the most amazing birth story. When Christ was born. One of my favorite Christmas carols till this day, that reminds me of the true reason for the season, is ‘Angels From the Realms of Glory’. This carol is the second song I decided to record last year in addition to "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day". It is on the album ‘Always In The Club’. Though I love the original version of the song, my producer added a Caribbean beat to it to give it an updated sound while still retaining some of its original sound and melody. Tony Luca, who is a MMC member and was a runner up on The Voice where Christian Aguilera was one of the judges at the time also lent his awesome guitar playing skills on this track.
The lyrical content definitely inspired me to record this particular carol. It was on my previously recorded Christmas album ‘It’s Christmas All Over The World’, which are EMD dance versions of a few Christmas classics.
The hymn was written by Scottish poet James Montgomery in 1816. It was released on Christmas Eve in a newspaper called the Sheffield Iris, which was a newspaper that he was the editor of. The Christmas story can be found in Matthew 2 and Luke 2, which draws all kinds of people to Christ, as the hope and long awaited Messiah- ‘sinners, wrung with true repentance’ have found redemption. The lyrics of the song are partly based on the French carol ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’. For half a decade Angels From the Realms of Glory was sung to that tune. It is one of James Montgomery’s most popular compositions.
Angels From the Realms of Glory shines a light on the Christmas story and the characters involved. The call expressed in the carol to the characters and to us today is to ‘Come and Worship Christ, the newborn King’. The characters mentioned in the hymn, the angels, the shepherds and the wise men all came from different places. No matter where they came from, where they were going is what mattered most.
You may be coming from a dark place yourself. You may be coming from a place of trauma, weariness, disappointment, loss, anxiety or fear. Whenever you are, Christ calls you to Himself to find rest and comfort in His presence. He is worthy of our worship, honor and adoration.
