Christmas is a great time to sing old songs. At Mars Hill we love to sing old songs but not necessarily in an old way. Each of these old hymns has a separate composer for text and tune. Many of texts have been set to a number of different tunes over time to better identify with a particular people, place, and time.

At Mars Hill we see ourselves as simply another link in that chain. We seek to put great lyrics to music that makes sense to our people. In many ways this is the essence of how we live as Christians: an ancient message (the gospel of Jesus Christ) put in the current language, expression and culture of our time.

What follows is a collection of old songs put to musical arrangements that reflect our community at Mars Hill in Seattle, Washington. These songs come from very diverse backgrounds. They were written by Catholics, Anglicans, Unitarians, and other Protestants hailing from Austria all the way to New England, from the early 800’s to the late 1800’s. All these different stories come together in our present day as an offering of worship to Jesus Christ who we celebrate as Emmauel, “God with us”. It is our hope that you see His divinity, humanity, grace and love in every note we play and sing.