Angels We Have Heard On High (King Of Kings)

JJ Heller's "Angels We Have Heard on High (King of Kings)" carries the traditional French carol's verses close to the original before adding one short, direct title to the familiar refrain: "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." It's a phrase borrowed straight from Revelation, where it names exactly who is riding out at the end of the story — and Heller drops it right into the middle of a birth announcement.

"Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong? What the gladsome tidings be, which inspire your heav'nly song?" is the carol's own question, asked on behalf of anyone hearing the story secondhand and wondering what all the excitement is actually about. The answer follows directly: "come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing, come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King."

By naming the baby "King of Kings" this early in the story, Heller's arrangement collapses the distance between the manger and the throne — the same authority Revelation describes at the end of everything is already present, however quietly, at the very beginning. The repeated "Gloria, in excelsis Deo" running through it all is Luke's own words for what that recognition sounds like out loud.