Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am so thankful for the Father's gift of his Son Jesus Christ. I love this time of year where we get to focus on Him and His gift to us; His ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

May we remember Him always, and especially on this day.

The final track on An M31 Christmas is Born on a New Day.

I first saw The King’s Singers in 2008 where they performed a Christmas concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was so blown away by their performance, particularly their performance of a song called Born On A New Day, that the next day I bought their album titled Christmas.

Born On A New Day was originally written in 1992 and titled You Are The New Day. This original version didn’t really have any connection to Christmas. In 2000, Philip Lawson, one of the baritones for The King’s Singers, rewrote the lyrics as a Christmas song, and it became one of the King’s Singers’ biggest successes.

When I started my tradition of doing Christmas songs back in 2011, I made a list of the dozen or so that I wanted to do, and this song was one of the first I added. In this arrangement, I wanted to preserve the tight harmonies that exist in the original version by the King’s Singers. And because of the ethereal nature of my arrangement, I slowed the tempo down from the original a bit so I could preserve the rich chord structure and progressions.

Born On A New Day has become one of my favorite modern-era Christmas songs. The lyrics capture the essence of what Christmas is and what Christ has done for humankind, and its all set on a wonderfully lush tonal foundation.

You are the new day,
You are the new day.
Meekness, love, humility
Come down to us this day:
Christ, your birth has proved to me
You are the new day.

Quiet in a stall you lie,
Angels watching in the sky
Whisper to you from on high
“You are the new day”.

When our life is darkest night,
Hope has burned away;
Love, your ray of guiding light,
Show us the new day.

Love of all things great and small
Leaving none, embracing all,
Fold around me where I fall,
Bring in the new day.

This new day will be
A turning point for everyone.
If we let the Christ-child in, and
Reach for the new day.

Christ the Way, the Truth, the Life;
Healing sadness, ending strife;
You we welcome, Lord of life,
Born on a new day.
You are the new day