In late 2011 we decided to write a Christmas song for our congregation and to have the children of the congregation help us. We invited them to bring lyrics or ideas to include in the song as they came forward for their time with the pastors. They did so for a four-week period.
We (Veena Kulkarni and John Groen) then sat down and began crafting the lyrics. We had no tune in mind, but the lyrics came together with little resistance. They seemed to have a certain logic to them. After a couple of meetings they were in place.
We then worked on our own to find a tune to go with the words. Veena left a voicemail for John with an elaborate tune that she played on the piano. John picked up the voicemail, heard the tune, called back saying he liked what Veena had played, and then proceeded to hum back a completely different tune. Veena jumped on it.
The next time we met we forged the tune at the piano with Veena playing John’s tune. Veena scored the tune and we brought it to our praise team (guitars, keyboard, piano, drums, and trumpet). We sang the song during our Christmas Day celebration of Christ’s birth. The congregation has sung it now for three years, and it’s become a favorite.