Christmas-tide Carols by Shirley Erena Murray
New Zealand has a vibrant community of contemporary authors of hymns and carols, and Shirley Erena Murray is one of the premier authors in this group. It has been an honor to exchange emails with Shirley for some years now. Each year, she write to let me know of the new Christmas-tide carols and hymns that she has written. This year, she kindly provided me a list of her Christmas-tide content, which, more or less, matched what I had on this web site.
Until now, I've provided links to her lyrics on the web page of her U.S. publisher, Hope Publishing. As a service to visitors, here is a consolidated listing of her Christmas-tide gifts. All links open in a new window at an exterior site. To see hymns and carols by other writers who are published by Hope, see the Hope Online Hymnody page.
Carols by Shirley Erena Murray
to November 2013
| First Line | Title |
| All Over Creation (Christmas) | All Over Creation |
| At the Door of the Year (New Year) | New Year Carol 2011 |
| Always There's a Carol (Christmas) | Carol for a Dark Night |
| Because of the Baby | Because of the Baby (2012) |
| Bring in Your New World (Christmas) | Carol for Advent 2005 |
| Carol Our Christmas (Christmas) | Upside Down Christmas |
| Child of Christmas Story (Christmas) | Child of Christmas Story |
| Child of Joy and Peace (Christmas) | Hunger carol |
| Christmas Day Christ, We Have Claimed You (Christmas) | Christmas Day Christ |
| Come, Christmas Child [Pending] | Carol for Advent 2013 |
| Come In, Come In, New Year | New Year carol |
| Come Now, Lord Jesus (Advent, Christmas) | Come now, Lord Jesus |
| Come to This Christmas Singing! (Christmas) | Come to this Christmas Singing |
| Dream a Dream (Christmas Eve, Christmas) | Carol of Dreams |
| Look Toward Christmas (Advent Song) (Advent) | Look Toward Christmas |
| Lullaby, Sing Lullaby (Christmas) | Lullaby Carol |
| No Obvious Angels (Christmas) | New World Carol |
| Now the Greening of the Summer | Carol for St Andrew's |
| Now the Star of Christmas (Epiphany) | The Three Faiths Carol |
| O Little Love, Who Comes Again (Christmas, Epiphany) | Peace Carol |
| Peace Child (Advent) | Peace Child |
|
Peace Is Generosity Christmas calls the world to peace |
Peace Is Generosity |
| Set the Sun Dancing (Epiphany) | A Carol for Epiphany |
| Sing a Carol for Summer (Christmas) | Sing a Carol for Summer |
| Sing with the Angels, Gloria! (Advent) | Sing with the Angels “Gloria!” |
| Star-Child, Earth-Child (Advent) | Star-Child Carol |
| Summer Sun or Winter Skies (Christmas) | Carol 2002 |
| The Light, the Christmas Light (Christmas) | The light, the Christmas light |
| There Is No Child So Small (Christmas) | Carol of the Least Child |
| The Christmas Child Is a Troublesome Child (Christmas) | Troublesome Carol |
| Through Winter Cold | A Winter Song |
| Where Is the Room? (Christmas) | Where is the room? |
| Who Is the Child that Is to Be Born? (Advent) | Who is the Child? |
| Who Sweep the Stable When Christmas Is Over? (Christmas) | Another Servant Song |
| Wise Men Came Journeying (Song for Epiphany) (Epiphany) | Wise men came
journeying
 |
Editor's Note:
Come, Holy Visitor (Advent). Properly speaking, this is a carol for the Pentecost. I include it here as an Advent carol because, to me, it also hints to the coming of the Christ.
Shirley has published a number of collections of hymns and carols, and her carols have been published in several themed collections:
Her Collections:
- In Every Corner Sing (1992)
- Every Day in Your Spirit (1996)
- Faith Makes the Song (2003)
- Touch the Earth Lightly (2008)
Collections by New Zealand composers:
- Alleluia Aotearoa
- Carol Our Christmas
- He Came Singing Peace
- Faith Forever Singing.
A couple of additional notes of interest:
In an interview with the Kapati (New Zealand) Observer, Shirley obsrved:
”I’m despairing of outdated hymns and songs that are irrelevant to contemporary life and the way we live it… I choose to write with liberal intent, persuading people to look again at what the Gospels actually say and what new truths can come out of them.”
To see the complete interview, please see Writing Hymns For All The World.
See also: Hymn writer stresses the power of words | Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. People underestimate the influence that lyrics have on their theology, according to Shirley Erena Murray.
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