Tag Archives | incarnation

Why Was It Such a Holy Night?

By Bob Kauflin on December 22, 2016 in —Christmas, —Physical Expressiveness

In 2014, Sovereign Grace Music released our second Christmas album, Prepare Him Room. It included a revised version of O Holy Night, with new lyrics written by my friend, Kevin Hartnett. I wrote a post that explained the background of the song and why Kevin rewrote two of the verses. The fundamental reason Kevin gave was that Timothy Dwight’s translation from the French didn’t capture the good news of the gospel in the way that the original lyrics did. Here’s a literal translation of how the song began: Midnight, Christians, it is the solemn hour, When God as man descended unto us To erase the stain of original sin And to end the …

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Who Would Have Dreamed?

By Bob Kauflin on December 21, 2015 in —Christmas, —Sovereign Grace Music, —Worship and Christ

Who would have dreamed or ever foreseen that we could hold God in our hands? That question comes from a song I wrote last year with my good friend, Jason Hansen, called “Who Would Have Dreamed?” for our album Prepare Him Room. We were trying to express the amazing miracle of the Incarnation. Theologian J.I. Packer says the Christmas event of Christ’s birth is where the “profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. . . . Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.” Nothing in fiction is so fantastic. That means stories of Santa Claus, elves, Grinches, sugar plum fairies, and ghosts …

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From the Archives: Sentimentalizing, Sanitizing, and Spiritualizing Christmas

By Bob Kauflin on December 18, 2014 in —Christmas, —Worship and Christ

It’s difficult, if not impossible, to overstate the significance of the Incarnation. Writers, philosophers, poets, and composers through the centuries have searched in vain for words that adequately capture the wonder, mystery, beauty, and power of Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us. The miracle and meaning of the Incarnation can be so difficult to grasp that we can give up and start to view Christmas in ways that leave us impoverished and unimpressed with the real story. Even in the church our songs and reflections about about Christmas can fail to leave people gasping in amazement or humbled in awe that God would come to dwell among us. Sometimes …

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God is Born a Man Today – Merry Christmas

By Bob Kauflin on December 25, 2007 in —Christmas

Last year we released an album of songs celebrating the Incarnation. We called it Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. It was the CD my family started the day with this morning. Here are the words to the opening song, Christ the Lord, written by my good friend, Mark Altrogge. How my happy heart rejoices I can hear the angel voices “Christ is born” they all are singing From the sky this good news bringing Let the earth rejoice O come and lift your voices Christ the Lord is born today He came from heaven’s throne God is born a man today To bring His children home To bring His children home Death and darkness surely …

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Glory Be to God – Free mp3 Christmas Song

By Bob Kauflin on November 1, 2007 in —Song Downloads

Last year we released our first CD for Christmas, Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man. It’s made up of twelve original songs that explore and respond to the miracle of the incarnation. When I say the songs are “original,” I mean that we didn’t include favorites like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Although, I don’t know if Christmas songs get much better than that. The CD contains many songs that can be sung all year round, but the focus is the Son of God taking on human flesh and giving up his life to bear our sins and reconcile us to the Father. One of my favorites is “Emmanuel, Emmanuel,” by Mark Altrogge. It has a wonderfully …