Glory to God in the highest key possible.

I was at a wonderful Christmas celebration this weekend. The singers were splendid, the musicians were magnificent, the stories of changed lives were inspiring, the talker was terrific, the media was marvelous, the carols were class. It was unfortunate that whilst we sang "Once in Royal David's City" somebody's car blocked the working men's club entrance. It resulted in the screen displaying the words, "And he leads his children on...to the back of the hall." My favourite carol is "Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” People sing it every Christmas... "Veiled in flesh the godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth." So much truth in so few lines. I always sing it too loud. This year I was in the choir and they had to move me away from the mic and then come back and move the mic further away still. The people on the PA said it sounded as if it was me and the choir, rather than the choir. One of the difficulties with carols is that they were written when people could reach top F without any effort. Nowadays, most popular songs have a range of four lines of lyrics spread across six notes, none of them above top D, so if anyone has to sing a carol they give up as soon as it approaches top E. I'm not sure why, when we have capos, bar chords and transpose buttons we still insist on sticking with the key of E flat for 'O Holy Night'. The whole point of Christmas is that God came down to where we are because we couldn't reach Him where he is. God transposed himself so we could be in harmony with him. I wish you a very happy Christmas and a renewed understanding of what it really means.