Some Fun (as in under-Produced) Christmas Songs

“I have a couple Christmas songs, I unpack every year…”

Ruth wrote that one. I have to take responsibility for this one:

Enjoy the day!

 

♫ New Christmas Music ♫

I had so many of these on file I decided to make a special extension of Wednesday Connect. We could call it Thursday Tunes. But we won’t.

I decided to embed the videos instead of just linking them. Not sure how this works out on your various mobile devices, but let me know. Also, there are a couple of names here you might not have heard in a long time.

Rachel Lampa is back:

J. J. Heller:

How could it be that a stable so small
Could somehow contain enough room for us all?
It’s a story that turned the whole world upside-down.
Giving birth to a kingdom where lost hopes are found.

Hollyn:

Plumb:

I mentioned the next ones in previous editions of Wednesday Connect, but wanted to include them here…

Amanda Opelt (read the story why the sister of Rachel Held Evans chose this song):

Switch (that’s the name of the band) with the same song, entirely different tempo

Nicole Nordeman: The one that’s been on repeat most at my house.

Hope that didn’t tax your bandwidth! Enjoy!

The management of Thinking Out Loud wishes to acknowledge the help received from the website NewReleaseToday.com

 

Our First Ever Christmas Quotation Game

by Ruth Wilkinson

(answers are now posted in the comment section)

Something completely different today. Can you identify who said each quote, and in what classic Christmas song, story, or show?

1. “Happy Birthday!”
2. “It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.”
3. “And they’re hanging their stockings… Tomorrow is Christmas! It’s practically here!”
4. “You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart.”
5. “ You know, fruit cake has the same properties as wood, including taste. You can keep a stove going for hours.”
6. “Oh-oh. Somebody’s just made it. Every time you hear a bell ring, it means that some angel’s just got his wings.”
7. “I’m cute! I’m cute! She said I’m cute!”
8. “I don’t like green Christmases. They’re not green—they’re just nasty faded browns and greys.”
9. “Beaming faces everywhere, happiness is in the air, I’m telling you, it isn’t fair! I hate Christmas!”
10. “Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!”
11. “Well, sir, someday, I’d like to be a… a dentist.”
12. “If you so much as lay a finger on the brim, I will never bring you another Christmas present as long as you live.”
13. “Well, I hate to disagree with you, but not only IS there such a person, here I am to prove it.”
14. “Will you buy my hair?”
15. “Ask me who I was.”
16. “Santie Claus, why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?”
17. “Scotch pine delicious! But Douglas fir give me heartburn! (Burps) Excuse me!”
18. “Where do you think you’re going? Nobody’s leaving. Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We’re all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here.”
19. “All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share.”
20. “Christmas, Christmas time is near, Time for toys and time for cheer, We’ve been good, but we can’t last, Hurry Christmas, hurry fast.”
21. “Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry! Christmas Eve on a rooftop. Saw a chimney, my whole brain just went “What the hell!””
22. “The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Mr. Ryder… I will just put on my slippers before we settle this little matter of yours… You want to know what became of those geese?”
23. “Look, Teddy. What’s Santa brought you?”
24. “Folks, if you happen to get a goldfish for Christmas and the goldfish dies, you can flush it. But if you get a poinsettia and the poinsettia dies, don’t flush it, all right? Bad mistake.”
25. “To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

Bonus quote:

• “Christmas is a time for sharing. Christmas is a time for caring. If you believe in Christmas things, you’ll know the joy that Christmas brings.”

Merry Christmas from Paul and Ruth and Thinking Out Loud

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Heaven Came Down

Enjoy some music by the band Life Wide Open that’s become my favorite Christmas song over the past few years:

(Re) Introducing David Wesley

Several months ago we took a day here to introduce you to David Wesley and his first  album, Basement Praise.  Now just three months later, David is back with Simply Christmas.

It’s not every day that I meet someone with 30,000+ YouTube subscribers who is also closing in on 4.8 million views. The music channel has flown him to the west coast twice in recognition of his song stats. David lives in the same part of the world as I, where he is mild-mannered reporter by day and video superstar by night. (Well, not the reporter part, but he has another life.)

On the first album he sings multiple parts which are also recorded for the videos. Offering the latter for sale is prohibitive because of the royalty structure, but many fans — including people who already own the album — would be willing to buy the visual versions if they could. On the new album, one song (see below) is also filmed that way, while the others have embedded links for purchasing individual songs or the entire album.

And this is where you come in. After listening to a few songs below, you can probably think of someone who would appreciate David’s unique sound, and there are links where you can download his music. (Physical CDs also exist for retailers or quantity buyers.)

Or you might just want to keep it all for yourself! Sit back and enjoy some early Christmas music:

 

 

YouTube: DavidWesley on YouTube

Facebook: David Wesley Music

Physical CDs / Retailers: Collide Media

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Physical CD: http://www.collidemedia.ca/…
iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/ca…
CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/CD/da…
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Simpl…
Google Play: http://play.google.com/stor…

Simeon: “Now I’ve Seen Everything”

Life is like a box of Christmas ornaments. You never know what you’re gonna get.

I was wondering if I would have time to post anything today, when last night an old friend asked if I would post a particular song on our store’s YouTube channel. The song was the title song on a vintage Canadian Christian album called Simeon by a band called Simeon. So yes, the album, the song and the band all have the same name. The band was the house band at The Master’s Workshop in Toronto, Canada and did studio work for clients during the week and did weekend ministry at Christian concerts.

I was just thinking about Simeon — the one in Luke 2, not the band — just the other day. His speech in Luke 2 is the ultimate, “Now I’ve seen everything.” Eugene Peterson tells the story this way:

In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:

God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation;
it’s now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.

So enjoy this song from the early 1980s.

Show Me The Manger

I thought we’d take a break from yesterday’s busy day here at Thinking Out Loud. It’s been a couple of years since this first appeared here. My wife Ruth is a naturally gifted songwriter and singer. Her best writing is often centered on Christ’s birth (Christmas) and death (The Cross).  I hope you enjoy her song.

 

Show me the manger
Show me where life begins again
Show me the manger
Show me where hope and peace come breaking in
Show me the shelter and the family and the faces and the dawn
Of untidy love that’s forever, forever from now on
Once I’ve seen the manger
How could I ever turn away?

Show me the angels
Show me a hint of what Heaven can do
Show me the star now
Show me a flash of forever shining through
Show me the beauty and the glory and the music and the flame
Show me the power of the promise and the power of the Name
Once I’ve seen the glory
How could I ever turn away?

Show me the baby
Though I don’t begin to understand
How such an ordinary baby
Could be God becoming man
Could he be born to live to die to live again?
To be the life, be the way, be the truth, be the plan
Once I’ve seen the baby
How could I ever turn away?

Show me the manger, show me the family,
Show me the angels, show me the star now
But once I’ve seen the Savior,
I will never turn away.

Last Chance Christmas Songs

Okay, so it’s the 27th already, and the cool thing to do now is to pack up Christmas and move on, but before we leave it entirely, we want to draw attention to the audio advent calendar our friends at Third Space Church in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada produced, with a song (or something) for every day from December 1 to 25. (Well, they just embedded some videos; so maybe ‘produced’ is misleading…)

If you’re arriving here anytime after December 2012, you’ll have to hunt through their blog for posts in that month using the tag “online advent calendar,” for everyone else a simple click will work.

Wednesday Link List

Try to have your link suggestions in by 8:00 PM EST Monday.

• What happens when Anabaptist convictions and Catholic worlds collide? An interview with Jesus For President co-author (with Shane Claiborne) Chris Haw on his latest, From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart.
  
• CNN did an exhaustive profile on the father/son relationship between Charles Stanley and Andy Stanley. (Skip the comments, though; no wonder media outlets are shutting down their religion blogs.)
• For those of you with high speed internet, Duke Taber has a collection of ten contemporary Christian Christmas songs — never thought I’d have to construct a phrase that way — to put you in the mood for 12/25.
• For pastors, worship leaders, and church leaders in general: A contrast between success and fruitfulness in ministry.
• Some Arminians don’t want to include open theists in their group because it gives credence to a Calvinist belief that Arminianism is part of a slippery slope toward… open theism. Roger Olson explains.
• At Daily Encouragement, we were recently informed that in some parts of Asia, the equivalent to “How Are You?” is “Did You Eat?” We have much to be thankful for.
• Carolyn Arends and her 14-year old son are on opposite sides of the table when it comes to creation theory, as are many Evangelicals.
• Now, see, if we were into sensationalism, we’d include a link to the one about the 80 year old priest who bit the ear off another clergyman.
• Or the one where Pat Robertson dismisses the whole David Petreaus scandal as something to be expected. (And here’s the word he used.)
• A church an hour east of Toronto, Canada is using a mobile app as a major part of its church growth strategy.
• Albert Mohler thought the election results were an “Evangelical Disaster,” but one author thinks maybe it was a good thing.
• Inside Perspective: What does it look like when the funeral protestors show up in your own home town? 
• When she’s not biographing Justin Beiber, Cathleen Falsani is following U2’s Bono to Georgetown University, where she summarizes the evening and includes a video of his full address.
  
• Mark D. Roberts referred to an author I remember reading, Ben Patterson who taught him to remember that our words should please God.
  
• Renown atheist Penn Jillette of magic team Penn and Teller has included the Bible in his list of six favorite books.  Of course he’s being cynical.
• This links takes you to the channel for articles by Anna Heydenrych, an author women will resonate with, whose column Coffee Break originates with Gateway, a South African Christian news portal.