(Joy to the world the Lord is come) 

Here was a man a man who was born in a small village the son of a peasant woman 

He grew up in another small village 

Until he reached the age of thirty he worked as a carpenter 

Then for three years he was a traveling minister 

But he never traveled more than two hundred miles from where he was born 

And where he did go he usually walked 

He never held political office he never wrote a book never bought a home 

Never had a family he never went to college and he never set foot inside a big city 

Yes here was a man 

Though he never did one on the things usually associated with greatness 

He had no credentials but himself he had nothing to do with this world 

Except through the devine purpose that brought him to this world 

While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him 

Most of his friends ran away one of them denied him 

One of them betrayed him and turned him over to his enemies 

Then he went through the mockery of a trial 

And was nailed to a cross between two thieves 

And even while he was dying his executioners gambled 

For the only piece of property that he had in this world 

And that was his robe his purple robe 

When he was dead he was taken down from the cross 

And laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate friends 

More than nineteen centuries have come and gone 

And today he's a centerpiece of the human race 

Our leader in the column to human destiny 

I think I'm well within the mark when I say that all of the armies that ever marched All of the navies that ever sailed the seas 

All of the legislative bodies that ever sat and all of the kings that ever reigned 

All of them put together have not affected the life of man on this earth 

So powerfully as that one solitary life 

Here was a man (joy to the world the Lord is come)