God’s peace to you and your family as this Advent Season gives way to Holy Christmas. No doubt, you have your favorite Christmas hymns that have a life of their own. Not just a hymn that confesses and proclaims the birth of Christ, but is also tied to the nostalgia of Christmas. Joy to the World, Silent Night, O Come, All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, along with other popular favorites, come to mind. I enjoy singing these favorites myself, but I would like to commend to you one of my favorite Christmas hymns, written by one of the greatest Lutheran hymn writers: All My Heart Again Rejoices (LSB 360), written by Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676).

A Lutheran Pastor in Germany, Gerhardt’s life was filled with sorrow and sadness. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), he lost his family, home, church, and his entire village. He and his wife, Anna Maria, had five children, but only one, Paul Friederich, survived to adulthood. The rest succumbed to the various illnesses and hardships or the fallout of war. He was barred from serving the church in Berlin under Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg. In those days, the elector decided whether his territory was Lutheran, Reformed, or Catholic. When Elector Frederick William declared that all the congregations were reformed, Gerhardt refused to compromise his theological convictions and would rather leave than teach and preach reformed theology. 

In the face of all the trials and suffering he endured, he wrote some of the most gorgeous, Christ-centered, and comforting hymns, such as: Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me (LSB 756), Entrust Your Days and Burdens (LSB 754). In total, he wrote 134 German hymns, 16 of which are in the Lutheran Service Book. 

All My Heart Again Rejoices was published in 1653, a few years after the ravages and suffering he, his family, his village, and his congregation endured during the Thirty Years’ War. The hymn was originally written with 15 stanzas, six of which are in the LSB. The text in LSB is as follows: 

1. All my heart again rejoices / 
As I hear / Far and near 
Sweetest angel voices./
“Christ is born!” their choirs are singing /
Til the air / Everywhere
Now with joy is ringing. 

2. Hear! The conqueror has spoken: /
“Now the foe, / Sin and woe, /
Death and hell are broken!” /
God is man, man to deliver, /
And the Son / Now is one /
With our blood forever. 

3. Should we fear our God’s displeasure, /
Who, to save, / Freely gave / 
His most precious treasure? /
To redeem us / He has given / 
His own Son / From the throne /
Of His mighty heaven.

4. See the Lamb, our sin once taking / 
To the cross, / Suff’ring loss, /
Full atonement making. /
For our life / His own He tenders, /
And His grace / All our race/
Fit for glory renders. 

5. Softly from His lowly manger / 
Jesus calls / One and all, 
“You are safe from danger.” /
Children, from the sins that grieve you / 
You are freed; / All you need / 
I will surely give you.”

6. Come, then, banish all your sadness! /
One and all, / Great and small, /
Come with songs of gladness. /
We shall live with Him forever /
There on high/ In that joy /
Which will vanish never.

I love Christmas hymns that confess, not just the what of Christmas, but the why. “Christ is born!” The choirs of angels sing. But what does that mean for us? Gerhardt answers this very question; rather, Gerhardt quotes Christ the conqueror in a great acclamation of victory, “Now the foe, Sin and woe, Death and hell are broken!” This is why the Father sends His only-begotten Son, “His most precious treasure,” into our flesh. To redeem us, to laden that flesh with our sin, our unrighteous deeds, our every act of evil that contributes to this sin-sick world. Jesus comes to us, as one of us, for us—to exchange the wood of the manger for the wood of the cross. Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes our sin to the cross. This is the breathtaking thrill of Christmas. No matter what comes—plague, famine, disaster, or death— what hasn’t changed is that Christ is born to place Himself on the cross, and to be raised again. Even after some of the darkest days of his life—death, suffering, and the ravages of war—Gerhardt’s joy remained, for he had a greater treasure: Jesus. Let not the terrors of this life steal this joy from you. Despite this world, with its heartaches and sorrows, the gift of Christ and all that He has won for you on the cross are still yours. As Gerhardt so beautifully has us confess in his hymn, the "what" of Christmas is that this child, whose birth in Bethlehem caused the angelic choirs to burst out in a frenzy of singing, is given for you. 

May this Christmas gift, sent from heaven itself, give you comfort and peace in life and death, until the Lord Jesus returns to take us to Himself. A blessed Christmastide to you.