24 December 2022

Merry Christmas

By James Conner

Joy to the World is one of my family’s favorites. It’s a fitting carole for a Christmas for which there is much to be joyful.

In 1719, inspired by Bible verses including Psalms 94-4, Isaac Watts, an English Congregationalist minister, wrote the lyrics to Joy to the World, perhaps the most published Christmas hymn in English speaking North America. According to the Wikipedia, The tune usually used today is from an 1848 edition The National Psalmist (Boston, 1848) by Lowell Mason.