December 21, 2025
THE CHRISTMAS STAR
MACK WILBERG
Conductor
ANDREW UNSWORTH
Organist
DERRICK PORTER
The Spoken Word
SING A CHRISTMAS CAROL
from Scrooge
Music and Text: Leslie Bricusse
Arrangement: Michael Davis
’TIS JOY WHEN MOON AND STARS ABOVE
Music: English melody
Text: David Warner
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
COME, ALL YE SHEPHERDS (ORGAN SOLO)
Music: Czech carol
Arrangement: Andrew Unsworth
WHENCE IS THAT GOODLY FRAGRANCE FLOWING?
Music: French carol
Text: transl. A. B. Ramsay
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR? (BELLS)
Music: Gloria Shayne Baker
Arrangement: Sandra Eithun
WELCOME, CHRISTMAS MORNING!
Music: Mack Wilberg
Text: David Warner
THE SPOKEN WORD
“The Christmas Star”
SILENT NIGHT
Music: Franz Gruber
Text: Joseph Mohr
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg
HALLELUJAH
from Messiah
Music: George Frideric Handel
Text: Based on scripture
THE CHRISTMAS STAR
The Spoken Word, December 14, 2025
IMAGINE THAT NIGHT more than 2,000 years ago when a glorious new star first appeared—what surprise and wonder it must have caused. To the spiritually observant, it was more than just a star. It was a sign, a fulfillment of prophecy.1
Seeing and understanding that sign, wise and holy men set out, determined to find the One of whom it testified. They traveled to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”2
They continued their journey, following the star as it “went before them,” guiding their path “till it came and stood over where the young child was.” These soon-to-be-witnesses “rejoiced with exceeding great joy” and entered the place where Jesus was. There they “saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.”3
After offering their gifts to the Christ Child, the wise men returned home—likely “[bearing] witness that the king Immanuel had indeed been born in the flesh.”4 For they had seen Him—the very Son of God.
“His star”5—the star of Bethlehem that guided the wise men long ago—now symbolically crowns our Christmas trees, reminding us that His light still guides us today. As we look upward with an eye of faith, we will be led to Him and experience for ourselves His radiant spiritual light, for Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. As we discover this truth, we too can rejoice exceedingly and bear witness of what we have learned, felt, and seen.
Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son and for the Christmas star that pointed to Him. At this special time of year, choirs and congregations throughout the world remember His light as they reverently sing:
Silent Night! Holy Night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth;
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.6
References:
- See Numbers 24:17 and Helaman 14:5.
- Matthew 2:2.
- Matthew: 2:9–11.
- Bible Dictionary, “Magi.”
- Matthew 2:2.
- “Silent Night,” Hymns, no. 204.