Sounds of December: Rend Collective adds two lines, and "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" is a great Christmas song

Sometimes all it takes to turn a beautiful song into a beautiful Christmas song is two lines of lyric and melody. Two lines.

I learned this when I found my all-time favorite hymn on a 2014 album from an Irish Christian band called Rend Collective.

Usually it’s called “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” after the first line. Technically it’s named “The Hymn of Joy,” written by Henry van Dyke in 1907 and set to the “Ode to Joy” melody of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

I love this hymn. I confess there are moments in church, often during a hymn I don’t enjoy as much, when I flip to “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” and mentally head to a hymn happy place.

“Joyful, joyful, we adore thee,

God of glory, Lord of love;

hearts unfold like flowers before thee,

opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;

drive the dark of doubt away.

Giver of immortal gladness,

fill us with the light of day!”

Isn't that a sweet pick-me-up? And the tune? Well, that Beethoven guy was really good.

So the Rend Collective took this amazing song and tweaked it just a bit. It added a chorus, with the lyrics “Rejoice, rejoice our God is here with us, Emmanuel, our God is still with us” to the tune from “O Come Emmanuel.”

It’s perfect. And now it counts as a Christmas song. Check it out:

As you can guess from the title, “Campfire Christmas, Vol. 1” the CD is an acoustic, stripped down affair with many traditional songs with a twist. It’s a fantastic collection.

There’s another song on the disc that I like just as much, “Shining Light.” It’s a cover of a hit from Ash, another Irish band. It’s probably not technically a Christmas song. But you can make a case for it if you read into the lyrics. We approach Christmas inclusively.

Here’s “Shining Light,” because it’s just too good to not share.