Yet when we hear about this song of praise and when we realize that God did not send one angel alone, but that the multitude of the heavenly host was present with their song of praise, might we not be carried away just as we fall in step when a good band plays or unconsciously hum or whistle a well-known tune that falls on our ears? That would be it! Then we would freely listen to and freely participate in the Christmas story!"
— Karl Barth, Christmas Day sermon at Basel prison, 1954

There's something irresistible about a song that moves you before you even realize it's happening. You hear the opening notes, and suddenly you're humming along, tapping your foot. Karl Barth understood this when he preached to prisoners on Christmas Day 1954, describing how the angels' song of praise draws us in like a melody we can't help but join. When God broke into human history through a baby in Bethlehem, heaven couldn't contain its joy—and that celestial music is still echoing and inviting us in.

This Advent, we're learning to listen for those new melodies breaking forth. In Luke's carefully composed birth narrative, four great songs emerge that have shaped Christian worship for two thousand years: Mary's Magnificat, Zechariah's Benedictus, the Angels' Gloria, and Simeon's Nunc Dimittis. Each song comes from a different place in life's journey, yet together they form a symphony that teaches us how to respond when God shows up.

Like Barth's prisoners hearing heaven's chorus, we discover that worship isn't about having perfect pitch or knowing all the words—it's about being swept up in something beautiful and true – that God has come near.