The World and Everything in It: December 2, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday, we’ll pick up where we left off last week on the Respect for Marriage Act—as they call it—and talk about whether that issue may be another fault line among evangelicals.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We will talk with John Stonestreet.

Also the book series for children titled The Wingfeather Saga is now an animated series. WORLD’s Collin Garbarino has a review.

And—just to prove it’s never too late—we follow-up on a letter to the editor from 23 years ago.

Plus, the Music of Advent.

BROWN: It’s Friday, December 2nd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kristen Flavin with today’s news.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, NEWS ANCHOR: Macron » French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting the U.S. for the first time in President Biden’s term.

Yesterday, Macron criticized Biden’s energy policy. He says the president’s Inflation Reduction Act focused on American technologies while taking away investments from Europe.

Biden said his policy could be tweaked to satisfy both parties.

President Biden.

BIDEN: Europe is back in business. And we're going to continue to create manufacturing jobs in America, but not at the expense of Europe.

The presidents also reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Ukraine.

President Macron.

MACRON: Let me tell you that we will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise which will not be acceptable for them.

Yesterday evening, Biden held his first state dinner at the White House to showcase the strength of U.S-French relations.

Senate rail strike » AUDIO: On this vote, the yeas are 80, the nays are 15 One senator responded present under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the passage of this joint resolution the joint resolution is passed.

The Senate passed a bill that binds railway workers to their jobs, preempting a looming strike. The House passed a version of the same bill yesterday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised earlier to move the bill along as fast as he could.

SCHUMER: The responsible thing to do here is to move forward and do everything we can to include paid sick leave again we must keep working until the task is complete.

President Biden on Monday asked Congress to intervene to avert a rail strike, which could mean a shutdown of critical infrastructure right before the Christmas holidays.

Student loans » The Supreme Court will hear arguments about President Joe Biden’s student loan debt cancellation program early next year, but it also agreed to leave a block on the program in place.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this week Biden is going to continue to fight for borrowers.

JEAN-PIERRE: And let’s not forget 90% of them are making less than $75,000 a year that matters. That is a plan that is going to give people a little bit of breathing room.

Biden’s program seeks to cancel as much as $20,000 of student loan debt for individuals and households living under certain income thresholds.

Various groups have sued the administration, saying the plan exceeds the Executive Branch’s constitutional authority.

Trump Org trial » Arguments in the Trump Organization’s financial fraud trial in New York concluded yesterday with closing statements. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Prosecutors said the company fostered a culture of fraud and deception by lavishing perks on executives and lying about it.

Lawyers for the Trump Organization said former company finance chief Alan Weisselberg was the one who committed the fraud and the company cannot be blamed for his actions. Weisselberg was a key witness for the government.

Prosecutors say that Weisselberg wasn’t the only one engaging in criminal activities, nor was he only one benefiting from them.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office brought the suit against the Trump Organization after a three-year investigation.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Volcano » AUDIO: [Lava]

That’s the sound of lava slowly approaching a major thoroughfare on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Ken Hon. Audio courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.

HON: It's about 3.3 miles south of the highway at this point. And it has slowed considerably as we were forecasting as it reached the flat ground at the base of Mauna Loa. So it's in the saddle.

The world’s largest active volcano started spewing ash and debris on Sunday and has continued to erupt throughout the week.

Mauna Loa’s lava rivers could swallow the highway connecting the east and the west sides of the island as early as this weekend and there’s little authorities can do to stop the lava flow.

The volcano has slumbered for almost 40 years and authorities have said the mountain is long overdue to erupt.

Spain letter bombs » Police in Spain destroyed an explosive package delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid today. A week ago, someone sent a package bomb to Spain’s Prime Minister. And yesterday, an envelope exploded at the Ukrainian embassy. It injured one person.

PEREZ: [...increased protection]

Spain’s top security official Rafael Perez, saying authorities have ordered increased security at consulates and other possible targets.

Authorities are in the early stages of an investigation, but they believe the envelopes originated from inside the country.

PEREZ: [...investigations underway]

Perez saying there that investigations are underway in other European countries that have provided assistance to Ukraine.

I’m Kristen Flavin. Straight ahead: Culture Friday.

Plus, a beloved book series for children becomes an animated series.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s the 2nd day of December, 2022. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday!

Joining us now is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Morning, John!

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning.

EICHER: I think we need to start where we left off last week, now that the marriage redefinition bill passed, and I think the only bit of drama was the rejection of some amendments to make protection of religious liberty more explicit, more robust.

It probably says a lot about what we can expect, after this gets published in the statute books. I wonder about what’s also on the horizon for evangelicals. Do you see a new fault line here, given that both the big Christian college coalition and the national association of evangelicals are on the side of the “Respect for Marriage Act” and so many other evangelicals are opposed to it?

STONESTREET: I think that’s absolutely going to be the case, that there will be some sort of divide. I mean, I don’t think it will be the only source of a divide in evangelicalism. Anglicanism has more fractures than we could account for here.

But there will be those that will basically say, “this is what marriage is, and we can’t change our mind on this.” And there will those who have made peace with the cultural narrative.

I think that’s what happened on the pro-life issue as well, if you remember, and those who doggedly supported and stayed with this idea that life is valuable ended up winning out even within the church. I think there’s also those who agree with us, but—in an attempt not to be overly controversial or give the culture another thing to hate us for—they haven’t made their peace with same sex marriage, but basically are saying, you know, it’s not a core issue. It’s not a hill to die on. And I think that that’s not true either.

Because we’re not talking about us, you know. it’s exchanging even if it did give us all the religious liberty protections we wanted, it’s exchanging this kind of porridge of religious liberty in exchange for this redefined institution. And now, of course, we’re in a cultural moment that’s even more confused than when Obergefell was decided by the Supreme Court, where the T which was barely present in LGBT back in 2015 now basically runs the cultural show. So this is a another kind of place upon which to build even further evolution and expansion of the definition of marriage to other relational arrangements, which further endangers children. I look back at the history of the church, and every time the church has collided with culture that I can —whether it’s a new culture, whether it’s a paganized, culture, whether it’s a culture that needed revival, like pre-Victorian England—it almost always involved the church standing up for and protecting children. So I guess I look at it and go, “why would it be any different for us today, the church has a responsibility to stand up and protect children from really bad ideas.” And so I think it’s our calling right now. And all this is part of the same thing.

EICHER: I want to ask specifically about the protests going on in China. I know you’re culture and not international politics, but there seems to be a cultural issue here similar to what we experienced in this country over the level of government control we were willing to accept in connection with Covid. China is actually under fire for its zero Covid, harsh lockdown policy and I wonder what thoughts you have on that? Tiananmen Square is a distant memory, but can you see the Chinese regime starting to come apart?

STONESTREET: Well, that’s a great question that would require me to be far more prophetic than I claim to have talent for. But it is interesting, isn’t it? I mean, particularly coming right on the heels of Xi Jinping winning a third term, becoming more like Chairman Mao than any leader since Mao. It’s always interesting to see what ends up triggering human beings to rise up and speak out, because the level of control that the Chinese government has placed on its citizens is remarkable.

We were thinking and talking this week in our editorial staff about this move from the “no child policy” to a “one-child policy” or “two-child policy” to now no restrictions whatsoever. All of this is an attempt to control fertility in the population, which they’ve clearly found themselves unable to do. And it’s had incredible socioeconomic consequences, both in terms of young men being productive to crime spikes to just not enough babies. And one can imagine a very close future; if I were going to predict something, it would be that the Chinese government within our lifetime will actually mandate women to have a particular number of children. But it is a vision that sees nothing more involved with what it means to be human than the state.

And then to those who control there’s nothing eternal, there’s nothing metaphysical. There’s nothing godlike about us. Nietzsche has this vision of the Übermensch—the Superman controlling everything else—and whenever we see that lived out in a real-life context it’s horrible, it’s terrific. Of course, we might also say that most of the western world and particularly our media had this fascination with China’s zero COVID policy as if it were the ideal way to handle this. Some countries like New Zealand followed along. And that’s all been proven just absolutely ridiculous. And you look at China and go, “like this is 2022.” We haven’t really thought much about COVID in a while. I know Dr. Fauci has, but the rest of us really haven’t. And so you’re still dealing with this. That’s an amazing sort of thing. But that’s if I put on my political hat, and you told me not to do that. So I won’t.

BROWN: Here we are in the season of Advent and many people love to see those Hallmark channel movies over the holidays, one actress who’s synonymous with those films: Candace Cameron Bure. She left Hallmark in favor of an openly Christian channel—not the first time—but she came under fire for an interview she did with The Wall Street Journal.

“I think that Great American Family [the channel she went to after Hallmark] will keep traditional marriage at the core.”

She took a lot of flak for that, but do you think this one will blow over ?

STONESTREET: I have so many thoughts. Firstly, thank you for recognizing that it is not yet Christmas season, but Advent, which is not precisely the same thing. And you need to prepare for Jesus coming before we start putting the wisemen up, so I appreciate that as a good Anglican. The second thing that comes to mind is that I don’t have a whole lot of thoughts, except sarcastic snarky ones, about Hallmark Christmas movies, especially those that play all year round.

But I am always impressed when someone is willing to do the hard thing. And it is an amazing thing that this is what counts as a hard thing. Not even doing a movie that critiques same sex marriage or critiques this brand new way of thinking about sex and identity and sexual orientation. But the only movies we’re going to do are going to have marriages that look like the vast majority of marriages have since the beginning of time. That shouldn’t be a controversial thing, but it actually is.

That shouldn’t be controversial thing to say, “I’m just not going to participate when apparently, what is expected of all of us is that everyone must actually celebrate.” And that’s what she’s being asked to do. Of course, Disney went along with that, this mandate to celebrate and to over-celebrate, and to hyper-celebrate. And we saw what happened there this past week with the bombing of their latest film, and the swapping out of the CEO. You know that that’s where the motto has come from: “Woke is broke.”

Now, I don’t know if that’s always going to hold true: If that’s going to hold true in every segment. But I am much more curious. And I’m hopeful that the executives that are making these decisions for the great American Family Channel, have as much confidence in what’s true and conviction as this actress does. Because what we have seen in I think in far too many cases is that when the heat comes on, there tends to be a buckling among execs. And I think as Christians, we need to be really clear about that. And what our calling is, if we do find ourselves in charge of this Christian channel that happens to do these sorts of movies.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John!

STONESTREET: Thank you both.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, December 2nd. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next: A new animated TV series.

It’s based on the popular children’s books by Andrew Peterson. He’s a Christian singer/songwriter and author.

BROWN: The new series, The Wingfeather Saga, debuts today on the Angel Studios app. Arts and media editor Collin Garbarino talked to the show’s creators and brings us this review.

COLLIN GARBARINO: In 2008, Andrew Peterson published the children’s novel On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. It was the first volume in what would become The Wingfeather Saga—a fantasy adventure story that promotes virtue and the value of family. WORLD has recommended these books before, and they’ve become favorites for many Christian families. But now—thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign—fans of the books can experience the story in a new way by watching The Wingfeather Saga animated series.

JANNER: Oh. The Bumpy digtoad. Stabbish elbows. Exceedingly hoppy underparts. Gum, gulp, and swallow anything it can catch. Whoah!

Just like the books, the series follows the adventures of the three Igiby children. Janner, Tink, and Leeli.

Janner is the oldest. And he loves books—especially his creaturepedia that catalogs all the strange animals that live in his world. Janner’s little brother Tink loves action, and the two of them sometimes get into scrapes as they explore the countryside.

TINK: I think he likes me. Well, likes the taste of me anyway.

JANNER: Look at the giant fangs on that thing! The toothy cow. It uses its long tail to distract its prey.

TINK: I’ll say.

JANNER: It’s toothiness is hideous and most dreadful deadly. And it’s bulbous eyes disorient hapless travelers with it’s crazed and malicious gleam. Malicious gleam? Does that mean you can eat it? Yuck!

Little sister Leeli spends most of her days back at the cottage with their ex-pirate grandfather Podo. Leeli uses a crutch because of her bad leg. But she doesn’t let it affect her sweet spirit and her dedication to the arts.

[LEELI PLAYING MUSIC]

PODO: Leeli girl, how about something with a little more giddy up.

LEELI: Like a pirate shanty? Maybe the one about Squid Belly the Wide?

PODO: Aye. That’s perfect.

[DOG BARKING]

LEELI: Uh oh. Nugget found more flaps.

Ever since Janner, Tink, and Leeli lost their father, their mother Nia has held the family together with warmth and quiet dignity.

NIA: Boys… You’re on dinner duty.

JANNER: Okay.

TINK: Super tasty—hungry—

JANNER: We’ll go wash up.

In some ways, the Igiby children have an idyllic childhood, but in other ways things are very wrong for the family. Scary lizardmen have seized control of their village. They’re the Fangs of Dang, and they’re led by a wicked master called Gnag the Nameless.

FANG: I’d love to slap shackles on you, but then Slab he’d have to drag that belly back to jail.

SLARB: He’s real plump alright.

FANG: You lose tool borrowing privileges for a month. Another violation and it’s the black carriage for you. Scribble your name.

But there’s more to these Igiby children than it seems at first glance. A great mystery surrounds their family. And Janner, Tink, and Leeli have a destiny to fulfill. They’ll need love, courage, and hope to save their world from that nameless evil Gnag.

The Wingfeather Saga contains some mildly scary scenes, but it’s a show for all ages that families can enjoy together.

I recently got the chance to sit down and talk with author Andrew Peterson and producer Chris Wall. Peterson shared what it was like to let other people take his story and start adapting it for the screen.

ANDREW PETERSON: I didn’t come into the animated series with any kind of illusion that the only way for this to be good is for me to have power over it. You know. It’s nice to know I can be in the room and speak up every now and then, but part of the amazing thing that Chris did was to pull together an incredible team of people who are better at their job than I will ever be at their job. So I get to just be a cheerleader, and be in the room and watch it happen.

Chris Wall has had a lot of experience in animation, previously working with Veggie Tales and Dreamworks Animation.

CHRIS WALL: I think the hardest part of adaptation is things feeling derivative. It’s a lesser version of… People say they want this—They want a page for page adaptation. No, you don’t! It will be really boring. What you want is give me a story.

Despite making some minor changes to bring the story to the screen, Wall and his team stay faithful to the spirit of Peterson's story. You can tell everyone involved loves Peterson’s books.

CHRIS WALL: I loved the stories. I loved reading them, and I didn’t want to break them. You know, get them wrong. I was wonderful to have Andrew join not as author but as executive producer alongside, and be able to make sure we’re headed the right way.

The Wingfeather Saga has great production values. I especially liked the animation’s style. It has a distinctive look—it feels like a moving watercolor painting. Real children voice the Igiby siblings, and they do a fine job. Jodi Benson, best known as the voice of the little mermaid, plays their mother Nia. The show’s folk-music soundtrack is both joyful and haunting.

If you love the books, you can watch the first episode of The Wingfeather Saga for free today on the Angel Studios app. The app is available on just about every streaming device. New episodes come out on December 16th and 30th. It’s not necessary to have read the books to enjoy the series. But if you haven’t read On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, you might want to pick it up while you wait for episode two.

AUDIO: [THEME MUSIC]

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming next, Ask the Editor for December. WORLD Radio Executive Producer Paul Butler is here and I think we’re in for a little bit of “pass the microphone” today. Good morning, Paul.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Good morning!

Sure, yeah, you could say that. And it seems appropriate to pass the mic around because our Ask the Editor story for this month, as you’ll hear, has a passing of the torch theme to it.

I’ll go back several weeks, into November, when Whitney Williams got a text from a long-time WORLD reader. The reader made a request that ended in a delightful discovery, so I’ve asked Whitney to set it up for us.

WHITNEY WILLIAMS: Thanks, Paul. Two weeks ago, longtime WORLD fan Kelley Burgess texted me a photo of a November 1999 WORLD article entitled Millennium’s end. It was former editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky’s response to a letter from a homeschooler named Kristin Morgan. Morgan wrote:

Dear Editor, during these past few months my heart has been very burdened to reclaim America for Christ. With each additional school shooting, every murder of an unborn baby, my heart is convicted that this nation is in very serious trouble. Morgan went on to write: I feel that it is my responsibility as a Christian to do something, but I am not quite sure what I should do. I am writing you in hopes you can help direct me to a career that would be effective in bringing America back to Christ.

If you’d like to read Olasky’s full response to Morgan, we’ve linked it in our transcript. But here are a few key quotes:

“Kristin, you’re right to note that it is your responsibility as a Christian to do something—but it is not your responsibility to do everything.”

Olasky went on to encourage Morgan that there are many careers and callings that can glorify God. He tells her to take her likes and dislikes into account, but to look particularly at what she’s good at, because, he writes, “over the long run you’ll like the godly pleasure that true achievement brings.”

So back to that text I received pointing me to the article. Under her photo of the piece, Burgess wrote: “Wish y'all could track down Kristin and see what path she took.”

“Man, that’s a tall order,” I responded.

I didn’t even know where to begin…so I posted a message to our organization-wide message board—asking if anyone had any idea of where to start looking. I didn’t expect much. Oh me of little faith. Two minutes later I had more than a lead…WORLD Magazine children’s book page editor and editorial assistant responded:

“I'll make your search very easy: It's me.”

Our staff went wild. Most of us had no idea. Here’s Kristin Chapman, formerly Kristin Morgan, with the rest of the story.

KRISTIN CHAPMAN: When I wrote that letter to the editor, I was 17 and on the cusp of picking which college I would attend and what major I would pursue. Like many other idealistic teenagers, I was filled with a strong passion for righting the world’s wrongs, but I had no idea how I was supposed to do that.

Which is why Marvin Olasky’s response was just what I needed to hear: It freed me from focusing on what I could do and reminded me to look to what God has already done and is able to still do. He also pointed me to God’s instructions to the exiles in Jeremiah 29: “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce … have sons and daughters … seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” In my zeal to make a difference in the world, I had overlooked that sometimes we are just called to live out our ordinary lives, doing ordinary things, because in doing so we find our true calling.

I didn’t know it then, but my letter to the editor was the providential start of my journey with WORLD. Though I was still ambivalent about the future, I enrolled at Grove City College with an eye on a writing career. When Marvin Olasky came to the campus to speak, I introduced myself as the girl from the letter. He encouraged me to apply to the WORLD Journalism Institute, so I did. The following year I spent a month in Asheville honing my craft as a journalist before embarking on my first internship. A different newspaper internship the following summer cemented my interest in the journalism field. After graduation, and just six weeks before my wedding, I flew to Texas for a month-long WJI session in the Olaskys’ living room. I have been working for WORLD in some capacity ever since.

It's been more than two decades since that letter. I am thankful for the opportunity to work these many years at WORLD, where we strive to share the news in a way that reminds others God is at work no matter the headlines. But I’m also grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to live out other parts of Jeremiah 29 through marrying my husband, raising our children, and seeking the good of our city through the work of our local church.

So much, though, of fighting against the darkness of this world has played out in the very everyday moments of my life. Several years ago I hung in my bathroom a quote from Martin Luther: “What will you do in the mundane days of faithfulness?” It is my daily reminder that every moment taken captive to Christ is an opportunity. Just as I didn’t know where one letter would lead, neither do we always know the full impact of one simple conversation or one small action. Ultimately all we can do is be faithful to Christ and let Him worry about the details.

I’m Kristin Chapman.

EICHER: Wow, now I was able to see all of this unfold on our company Slack, so I knew how the mystery resolved, but I really enjoyed hearing it told this way. Much, much better than Slack messages!

BUTLER: It was fun to pull that together. I think Kristin’s story is a wonderful reminder to me of why we do what we do at WORLD. It started as a simple letter to the editor and that set in motion a series of events that led to a college degree, then to the WORLD Journalism Institute, to an internship, and ended with a journalist who has served God faithfully at WORLD for 18 years.

EICHER: Let me also say thanks to all our listeners and readers who support our work and make it possible for stories like Kristin’s to become a reality. Next week we kick off our end of year giving drive and we have much reason to be hopeful.

We had a very encouraging response to our weeklong online giving drive for new donors last week, if you were one of those, thank you so much, and welcome to the army of WORLD Movers. We’re so grateful you’re with us, helping to make our work possible. Thank you!

BROWN: And we’re continuing that passing of the mic today, as we did a moment ago, featuring one of our new WJI-Europe graduates from this summer’s program in Poland. We’re grateful for what God is doing here, and, again, it’s all made possible by listeners and readers of WORLD. Thank you for your support.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, December 2nd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. The Advent season has been celebrated since at least the 5th century. A season of preparation that focuses on the comings of Jesus: His birth in Bethlehem, His coming into the hearts of believers, and the anticipation of His second coming.

EICHER: To mark this season, we present our annual series: The Music of Advent. Over the next few Fridays, WORLD reporters will bring you Advent hymns from around the world. We’re keeping a Spotify and Apple Music playlist with all our selections. We’ve posted a link in this episode’s transcript at WNG.org.

Today, Mirjana Babloyan kicks us off in Hamburg, Germany.

MIRJANA JOY BABLOYAN, REPORTER: The Advent season is a very special time of year in Germany. Charming Christmas markets attract tourists from all over the world with hot chocolate and mulled wine, food from bratwurst to Schmalzgebäck–a kind of deep-fried dough, jewelry, Christmas decorations, and more. But there’s something else that can’t be missed: old German Advent hymns.

WERNIGERODE: MACHT HOCH DIE TÜR

Pastor Georg Weissel composed this hymn, “Macht hoch die Tür,” for the consecration of his church on the second Sunday of Advent in 1623. Hymn writer Catherine Winkworth drafted an English version in 1853 called “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates“. The following is a 2010 recording by the youth choir Wernigerode:

WERNIGERODE: MACHT HOCH DIE TÜR

The hymn is based on Psalm 24: “Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” The final verse calls worshipers to get ready for Jesus’s arrival and to open our hearts to Him, our Savior.

WERNIGERODE: MACHT HOCH DIE TÜR

FISCHER: LEISE RIESELT DER SCHNEE

One of the most popular German carols is “Leise rieselt der Schnee” or “Softly Falls the Snow.” Evangelical pastor Eduart Ebel wrote it in 1895. Here’s German singer Helene Fischer with her 2016 version.

FISCHER: LEISE RIESELT DER SCHNEE

Originally written for children, the first verse says, “Softly falls the snow, The lake is frozen and quiet. Christmassy, the forest is shining.” It’s a simple but profound hymn, with all three stanzas ending with the same words of anticipation: “Rejoice! The Christ Child will soon be here.”

FISCHER: LEISE RIESELT DER SCHNEE

Our final hymn today, “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,” was written by an unknown German composer back in the 16th century. It’s best known in English as “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” a later translation by Theodore Baker.

ORTEGA: LO, HOW A ROSE E’ER BLOOMING

The hymn’s lyrics refer to prophecies about Jesus in Isaiah 11:1: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” American artist Fernando Ortega sings this 2020 version.

ORTEGA: LO, HOW A ROSE E’ER BLOOMING

In 1844 Lutheran pastor Friedrich Layriz added the third stanza that reminds the worshiper of the awaited Messiah who came into the darkness of this world to show God’s love by saving us from our sins.

ORTEGA: LO, HOW A ROSE E’ER BLOOMING

I’m Mirjana Joy Babloyan, celebrating Advent in Hamburg, Germany.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, it’s time to say thanks to the team members who helped put the program together this week: Gary Perillioux, Whitney Williams, Collin Garbarino, Kristen Flavin, Carolina Lumetta, Amy Lewis, Brad Littlejohn, Mirjana Babloyan, Onize Ohikere, Addie Offeriens, Emily Whitten, Steve West, Jenny Rough, David Bahnsen, Mary Reichard, Anna Johansen Brown, Josh Schumacher, Lynde Langdon, Steve Kloosterman, and Mary Muncy.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And thanks also to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz. Production assistance this week from Lillian Hamman, and Benj Eicher.

Paul Butler is our Executive Producer.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psalm 25:5 ESV)

Remember to worship in your local church alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ.

God willing, we’ll meet you right back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.