President Prange’s Greeting at the Christmas Concert

President Prange’s Greeting at the Christmas Concert

“Away in a Manger,” just played by the band, could be the theme song of MLS.  The first two verses were composed in 1885, the year MLS began as a graduate seminary.  The melody was first published in 1887, the year that we moved to Saginaw.  The third verse, “Be near me Lord Jesus. . .” was just beginning to be used in Lutheran churches the year that we became a high school, 1910.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;

Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,

And take us to heaven to live with Thee there.

“Mary, Did You Know,” about to be sung by the Concert Choir and Chapel Choir, could also be our theme song.  It was composed in 1990 and published in 1991, the years when most of our seniors were born.  It’s not really about Mary; it’s about Jesus, her baby boy, the One whom she delivered and who then delivered her.  Jesus is the center of all we do at MLS.

Most people know that our unofficial theme song is “God’s Word is Our Great Heritage.”  That sentence is true only because we know that the center of God’s Word is Christ, the One whom we celebrate at this concert.  That makes the words of our real theme song the angel’s message in Revelation 14, the everlasting gospel, for every tribe and nation and people and language. 

Hallelujah, to us a Child is born.  In that confidence of faith, we wish you a Merry Christmas.