Worship Song: Hope Has Come

Hope Has Come
Words & Music by Stephen Altrogge
Copyright © 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise
CCLI Song # 4866228

It is fascinating to me how polarizing Christmas music can be for many people.  For some, holiday decorations start coming out of storage well before Thanksgiving, and a few months of Christmas music is just about right.  For others, singing "Silent Night" anytime before Christmas Eve is too much.

To find a middle ground, I am always looking for new Christmas music that offers lyrical depth with a modern worship sound.  The story of Christ's birth and the hope He brings is powerful, but much of our modern Christmas music falls into the trap of sounding trite, or "Christmassy" in the most commercial sense.

I was happy to find a recent CD from Sovereign Grace ministries that provides some great new worship songs around the theme of Jesus' birth.  "Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Becoming Man" offers several compelling songs for worship, written by Mark Altrogge, Stephen Altrogge, Bob Kauflin and others, that transcend the typical Christmas CD offering.  We have been singing one of these songs, "Hope Has Come", by Stephen Altrogge, for the last several weeks at Discovery.

"Hope Has Come" is a driving, upbeat song of worship that proclaims the hope and salvation we have in Christ.  It reminds us that the birth of Jesus is about the power of God to save us from our sins.  Even a casual observer of the recent U.S. presidential election understands that people everywhere are longing for Hope.  This song of worship is about the hope we have in Christ Jesus, a promise that is far better than anything this world has to offer.  Here is the chorus of the song:

Alleluia, Hope has come.
Alleluia, Christ has come.
We once were slaves in misery
Till You appeared and set us free.
Alleluia, Hope has come.

I asked Stephen if he would share a few words about his song, and he graciously agreed.  I hope you are blessed by his thoughts and this song of hope.

"When I wrote the song 'Hope Has Come' I was trying to capture the image of light breaking into darkness, of hope breaking into a sin-sick world. Apart from Christ we were hopeless, lost, and without hope. We were sinners bound up in chains without any prospect of freedom. But praise God, he didn't leave us in our hopeless state. Hope has come into this hopeless world, light has shined in the darkness! This hope is Jesus Christ. That's what we celebrate at Christmas." - Stephen Altrogge

You can listen to "Hope Has Come" at Stephen Altrogge's MySpace site here, or you can download the MP3 from Amazon here.  The song can also be found on the Sovereign Grace Christmas CD, "Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Becoming Man", available from the Sovereign Grace store here.