Keith & Kristyn Getty and JJ Heller
The Carols of Christmas - Vol. 1
With rich poetry first penned in the fifth century, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” calls all creation to reverently approach the mystery of Christ’s birth with awe and wonder. Listen to the new single with JJ Heller as a part of “The Carols of Christmas – Vol. 1.”
There is an old Irish Christmas tradition, brought by travelers across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. A candle would be placed at the window, a light to break through the dark of the winter night and guide family and guests safely inside. Even the smallest light can beseen for miles.
Light carries inside it the paintbox of all creation. All the colors our eyes can behold are brought to us in waves of light, giving shape and contrast and life to everything we see. When Jesus tells us, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12), he speaks not only of a rescue from darkness but of an invitation to life in full color, life that meets the soul’s deepest longings.
Each Christmas, around the winter solstice, God calls us to let the light of his truth into our hearts anew—and also to let it out. Our songs, our homes, our work, our lives can become an even brighter candle in the window, an invitation to others.
The hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” originally penned in the fifth century, speaks with ever fresh color into our moment in time:
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way
As the light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day
That the pow’rs of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away
We can see the darkness pressing, pressing, pressing in all around this world. But the Light doesn’t just descend and make a little space in the shadows. He comes to clear the darkness completely away. We are small. Our flesh, our homes, our endeavors are so fragile. But the treasure Christ has placed within his people is an inextinguishable, ever-growing light. And each carol of Christmas joy we sing is a light dispelling the darkness of hell.
-Kristyn Getty
For over a decade, Keith and Kristyn Getty have occupied a unique space in the world of music as pre-eminent modern hymn writers with hymns such as “In Christ Alone” among the 32 songs in the CCLI top 500 between the USA and UK. Born in Northern Ireland, the award-winning artists became the first musicians of the modern era to be given the OBE from Queen Elizabeth II for service to music and hymn writing.
They have become ambassadors for the genre, from their “Sing” book and Conference which welcomes over 15,000 people in Nashville every year, to performing for Presidents and Prime Ministers, a hymn tour and Christmas tour which plays annually at Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center (as well as two TV specials on PBS and TBN), as well as founding a publishing company, record label, and online learning site for a new generation of writers and church musicians. Keith and Kristyn live between Northern Ireland and Nashville with their four daughters.
JJ Heller writes thoughtful, intimate songs that feel like balm for the soul. Heller and her husband, Dave, work creatively together co-writing and recording her songs. After 20 years making music full-time, Heller has 14 full-length albums, two Christmas EPs, and dozens of singles. In 2017, JJ began regularly releasing new monthly singles on the first Friday of each month. Click here to learn more about JJ and her music.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Sing! An Irish Christmas
In the Fullness of Time
