The Wissmann Family, a bluegrass gospel music group, has uploaded an incredible version of the classic carol “Good Christian Man Rejoice” to YouTube, garnering themselves nearly 375,000 views and a whole lot of praise.
“Wow, you guys did an amazing job! Love the song, I love the arrangement. Thanks so much!! I wanna see another one!”
“love this song. y’all did a great job.”
“Beautiful”
“superb song.. Praise the Lord Jesus”
“Better than Pentatonix because you haven’t sold out! Keep it real!”
(Hey manches300, as Pentatonix fan myself, that was a bit too far. But anyways.)
The video, which was uploaded to YouTube in December of last year, features 5 of the Wissmann children performing “Good Christian Men Rejoice” in a gorgeous, snow-covered, area. The branches and tiny open area appear serene, flakes still covering each branch and crevice. The song, performed in a capella, is fun and festive with the higher voices carrying most of the lyrics, with the lower voices providing that iconic a cappella base sound.
Dressed in shades of black and grey, the Wissmann children sing, “Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul and voice, Now ye hear of endless bliss, joy! Joy!”
As mentioned, the video has been extremely well-received on YouTube, garnering nearly 375,000 views. However, the Wissmanns, who have just released the album Sing Praise clearly aren’t strangers to attention. The 15-member Nebraska family, composed of parents Loren and Gloria Wissmann and their 13 children, has been performing for nearly 20 years.
According to the Wissmann Family website, Loren Wissmann plays bass guitar; he also loves teaching scripture and “explaining its truths through real-life situations”. His wife Gloria lists the hammered-dulcimer and guitar as her instruments of choice and says “treasured time [sic] are dates with Daddy and quiet afternoon reading with the younger children and grandchildren.” Five of their 13 children are married; however, it’s unclear which ones are featured in this amazing performance.
Interestingly enough (or not), most Holiday songs are actually hymns, reveals C. Michael Hawn of the United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries. “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice” is unique in that it’s considered a macaronic carol, i.e. the original was written in Latin and another language— in this case, German.
“All this said,” he notes, “The message of the carol is clear and may be found in the last line of each stanza: ‘Christ is born today! Christ is born for this! Christ was born to save!”
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
